MJ/- 






^SS^ 




<?> * o « ' O,^ ^^ 

., .'^'^ '^'SR- /\ .^^, 





















•oV 



*^0^ 



^o. 







r-^. 



i 




\''''\<' 







^^ '^. 






'^<b- 







0^ 0^1-.. "^< 






'O . I * 




^^'Vo^ 




.^■^ °- 



i 



^ 



CRUISE AND CAPTURES 



ALABAMA 



By Alhkkt M. Goodrich 



MINNEAPOLIS 

THE H.W.WILSON CO. 

1906 






LirtHARYofCONGREss 
Two GoDles Received 

AUG 2o \90f 

. Cooyneht Entry 

CLASS A XXc, No. 

COPY B. 



Copyright l<m, hij Albert M. Goodrich. 



Lumber Exchange Pbinti 



NO Co. 



PREFACE. 

The publication of the iiavaT records of the 
RebelHon, both Union and Confederate, makes 
it possible to take a comprehensive view of the 
career of the famous cruiser. In addition to 
these, Captain Semmes kept a diary, which after 
the close of the war he expanded into a very full 
memoir. \'arious officers of the vessel also kept 
diaries, and wrote accounts of their adventures. 
The long- report of the Geneva Tribunal of Arbi- 
tration, and various consular reports contain a 
great deal of information in regard to the Ala- 
bama's inception and operations. All this volu- 
minous material has been gone over with care 
in the preparation of this volume, and the facts 
are set forth in a trustworthy, and it is hoped 
also, in a readable form. 



CRUISE AND CAPTURES 

OF THE ALABAMA, 



1 



CHAPTER I. 

ENGLAND AND THE BLOCKADE. 

N the decade preceding the Civil War in 
America the carrying trade of the United 
States had grown into a vast industry. The 
hardy seamen of New England had flung out 
the stars and stripes to every breeze, and cast 
anchor in the most remote regions where a pay- 
ing cargo might be found. Up to October, 1862, 
they hardly felt that they had more at stake in 
the war of the Rebellion than any other loyal 
citizens. But in that month the news swept 
along the seaboard that the Alabama lay within 
a few days' sail of their harbors, dealing out swift 



2 ENGLAND AND 

vengeance upon all Northern vessels which came 
in her way. 

Whether or not the decline of American ship- 
ping is principally due to unwise legislation, cer- 
tain it is that its downfall dates from the appear- 
ance in the mid-Atlantic of this awful scourge 
of the seas. Northern newspapers called the 
craft a pirate, and no other word seemed to the 
New England sea captains adequate to describe 
the ruthless destroyer. Although regularly 
commissioned by the Confederate government, 
she never entered a Confederate port from the 
time she left the stocks until she tried conclu- 
sions with the Kearsarge ofif the coast of France ; 
and this, together with the further fact that her 
crew was chiefly of European origin — largely 
English — was used as an argument that she 
could not be considered as a legitimate vessel of 
war. None of the great nations of the world 
adopted this view, however, and she was every- 
where accorded the- same treatment that was ex- 
tended to war vessels of the United States. 

Early in 1861 thtre sprang up in England a 
thriving trade in arms and numitions of war. 



THE BLOCKADE. 3 

While the cotton spinners of Lancashire were 
suffering from the loss of their usual supply of 
raw material, owing to the blockade of the ports 
of the Confederacy, the merchants of Liverpool 
were turning their attention to supplying the 
belligerants with the equipment necessary for 
the continuance of the conflict. Sales were made 
directly or indirectly to the Federal government, 
but the higher prices offered in the South 
tempted many to engage in the more hazardous 
traffic with the government at Richmond. 

As the blockade gradually became more efft- 
cient, insurance companies refused longer to 
take the risk of loss on Southern commerce. But 
it still went on. The owners of a blockade run- 
ner were certain of enormous profits if they 
could succeed in getting through the lines, but, 
if captured, both vessel and cargo were confis- 
cated by the Federal prize courts. The sleepy 
little village of Nassau in the Bahama islands 
awoke to find itself a great commercial empo- 
rium, and immense quantities of goods were 
soon collected there, awaiting transshipment 
within the Confederate lines. 



4 ENGLAND AND 

According to the law of nations, vessels of 
neutral countries were not subject to seizure, 
unless actually attempting to run the blockade. 
Consequently, ocean steamers could land their 
cargoes at the English port of Nassau without 
danger, while smaller vessels^ having less 
draught than the Federal war ships, could make 
the short run to the coast with better chances of 
escape. Liverpool was the principal European 
depot for this trafBc, as Nassau was its principal 
depot on this side of the Atlantic. 

In the spring of 1862 Confederate agents in 
England were still talking about the "paper 
blockade," but English merchants whose goods 
were piled up at Nassau found the blockade 
much more real than it had been represented to 
be. Their anxiety was somewhat lessened by 
the circulation of rumors that the blockade was 
shortly to be raised. Confederate vessels of war 
were to make an opening in the encircling fleets, 
and the blockade was to become so lax that it 
would no longer be recognized by European 
governments. Eventually these prophecies be- 
came tangible enough to connect themselves 



THE BLOCKADE. 5 

with a certain mysterious vessel which was at 
that very time lying in the Mersey awaiting her 
masts and rigging. 

Charles Francis Adams was the United 
States minister to England, residing at London. 
The suspected character of the vessel was com- 
municated to him by Thomas H. Dudley, the 
United States consul at Liverpool, and a strict 
watch was kept upon her. 

Any avowed agent of the United States gov- 
ernment had great difficulty in acquiring in- 
formation of a compromising character. Public 
opinion in England among the wealthy and in- 
fluential was strongly in favor of the South. For 
this there were two reasons — one political, the 
other commercial. People of rank and those of 
considerable worldly possessions saw^ with grow- 
ing apprehension the rising tide of democracy, 
not only in England but throughout the world. 
The feeling of disdain with which the idle rich 
had so long looked upon those who were ''in 
trade" was beginning to lose its sting, and some- 
thing like an answering scorn of those who 
never contributed anything toward the struggle 



6 ENGLAND AND 

for human subsistence began to be felt. The 
existence side by side of vast wealth and de- 
grading poverty were more often referred to, 
and the innate perfection of institutions hoary 
with antiquity was more often called in question. 
The dread of an uprising of the "lower classes/' 
peaceful or otherwise, was strong. The success 
of Napoleon III. in overturning the second re- 
public of France was greeted with delight and 
construed to mean the triumph of the privileged 
classes. 

And at last had come that long-deferred fail- 
ure of republican institutions, which aristocracy 
and aristocracy's ancestors had been so confi- 
dently predicting — the breaking up of the Amer- 
ican republic. The refusal of President Lin- 
coln and the people of the North to acquiesce in 
the dismemberment of the Union was received 
at first with surprise and then with indignation. 
British commerce was seriously interfered with 
by the blockade. Spindles were idle all through 
the manufacturing districts in the west of En- 
gland. And all because a blind and headstrong 



THE BLOCKADE. 7 

I)eople persisted in an utterly hopeless war of 
conquest. 

Abhorrence of chattel slavery was well nigh 
universal among the English people of all .class- 
es. Indeed, the existence of that institution in 
America was one of the principal indictments 
which aristocracy had been fond of bringing 
agcinst her. The assertion that the North was 
waging a war for the extinguishment of slavery 
was laughed to scorn. Aristocracy pointed to 
the assertion of Lincoln in his inaugural address, 
that he had no intention or lawful right to in- 
terTere with slavery where it already existed and 
to similar statements of Republcan leaders. The 
general opinion among the wellyto-do classes 
was that the war was being fought on the part of 
the North for territory — for empire — or from 
motives of pride. 

On the other hand, the mechanics and arti- 
zans were inclined to believe that the war was 
real'y a war ag^nst slavery, and that in the 
cause of the North was somehow bound up the 
cause of the poor and downtrodden generally. 
So it came about that associations of working 



8 

men passed resolutions of sympathy with Presi- 
dent Lincohi, and the craftsmen of Lancashire, 
who were the principal sufferers from the cot- 
ton famine, kept as their representative in par- 
liament tho free trade champion, Richard Cob- 
den, an outsooken friend of the North. 



CHAPTER II. 

ESCAPE OF THE "290." 

IN March, 1862, a steamer just in from an 
ocean voyage ran up the Mersey, and as she 
passed the suspected craft the flag of the latter 
was dipped to her. The new comer was the 
Annie Childs, and she had run the blockade. 
But there was more important freight on board 
than the cargo of cotton which she brought. 
Consul Dudley gained an interview with some 
of her crew, and learned that it was understood 
at Wilmington/South Carolina, whence they had 
come, that a number of war vessels for the use 
of the South were building in England, and 
that several officers for the Oreto, the name by 
which the suspected vessel was now known, had 
been passengers in the Annie Childs. These 
officers had come on board at Smithville, some 
twenty miles down the river from Wilmington. 



lO ESCAPE OF 

On the steamer they had talked of their future 
positions on the Oreto, of which Captain Bul- 
loch was to have the command. 

The information thus obtained was hastily 
transmitted to Mr. Adams, but on the same day, 
March 22, 1862, the Oreto sailed, bound, so her 
clearance papers certified, for Palermo and Ja- 
maica. She was next heard from at Nassau, 
where she had been seized by the British au- 
thorities, but she was subsequently released. 
She afterward ran into the port of Mobile and 
reappeared as the Confederate war ship Florida. 

The complications arising in the case of this 
vessel warned the Confederate agents to be more 
guarded in their operations. The British For- 
eign Enlistment Act provided a penalty of fine 
and imprisonment and forfeiture of ship and car- 
go for any person who should "equip, furnish, 
fit out or arm" any vessel to be employed by any 
persons or real or assumed government against 
any other government at peace with Great Brit- 
ain. This prohibition was generally understood 
not to extend to the construction of the vessel, no 
matter for what purpose she might be intended; 



THE "290." II 

and the existing state of public opinion was such 
that it required strong evidence to induce officials 
to act in a given case and a very well fortified 
cause of action to induce a jury to convict an 
owner of breaking the law. 

Scarcely was the Oreto beyond English juris- 
diction before Mr. Dudley's attention was oc- 
cupied with another and more formidable vessel, 
which was suspected of being intended for the 
use of the Confederate government. She had 
been launched from the yard of Laird Brothers 
at Birkenhead, near Liverpool. The vessel had 
not yet even received a name, and was still 
known by her yard number, 290. 

On June 29th, 1862, Mr. Adams called the at- 
tention of Lord John Russell, who was at the 
head of the British department of foreign af- 
fairs, to the suspicious character of the "290," 
and an investigation was ordered. 1 he report of 
the custom house officers, made July i, was to 
the effect that the "290" was still lying at Birk- 
enhead, that she had on board several canisters 
of powder, but as yet neither guns nor carriages, 
and added that there was no attempt to disguise 




Raphael Semmes, Cowmaxder^cf the Alabat 



THE "290." 13 

the fact that she was intended for a ship of war, 
and built for a foreign government, but that 
Laird Brothers did "not appear disposed to reply 
to any questions respecting the destination of the 
vessel after she leaves Liverpool." Having 
agreed to keep watch of the vessel, British offi- 
cialdom concluded that it had done its entire 
duty in the premises, and the matter was 
dropped. Meanwhile Mr. Adams, who had all 
along been expecting exactly this result, had 
been in telegraphic communication with Cadiz, 
Spain, where the United States steamer Tus- 
carora had touched, and that war ship was now 
on her way to Southampton. 

Mr. Adams had also caused a number of 
affidavits to be prepared, embodying as much 
evidence as to the character of the "290" as 
could be obtained. The affidavit of William 
Passmore was to the effect that he was a sea- 
man and had served on board the English ship 
Terrible during the Crimean war. Hearing that 
hands were wanted for a fighting-vessel at Bir- 
kenhead, he applied to Captain Butcher for a 
berth in her. 



14 ESCAPE OF 

"Captain Butcher asked me," the affidavit 
continued, "if I knew where the vessel was 
going, in reply to which I told him I did not 
rightly understand about it. He then told me 
the vessel was going out to the government of 
the Confederate States of America. I asked him 
if there would be any fighting, to which he 
replied, yes, they were going to fight for the 
Southern government. I told him I had been 
used to fighting-vessels and showed him my 
papers." 

Captain Butcher then engaged him as an 
able seaman at £4 los. per month, and it was 
arranged that he should go on board the fol- 
lowing Monday, which he did, and worked there 
several weeks. During that time Captain Butch- 
er and Captain Bulloch, both having the rep- 
utation of being Confederate agents, were on 
board almost every day. 

This affidavit with five others was laid before 
the customs oi^cers, but the evidence was ad- 
judged to be insufficient to warrant the deten- 
tion of the vessel. Determined not to neglect 
any possible chance of stopping the "290" from 



THE "290." 15 

getting to sea, the energetic United S.tates min- 
ister placed copies of the affidavits before an 
eminent EngHsh lawyer, Mr. R. P. Collier, who 
arrived at a very different conclusion in regard 
to them. He said : 

"It appears difficult to make out a stronger 
case of infringement of the foreign enlistment 
act, which, if not enforced on this occasion, is 
little better than a dead letter." 

Armed with this opinion, Mr. Adams lost 
no time in laying it before Lord Russell, to- 
gether with the affidavits upon which it was 
based. His success was an agreeable surprise. 
An official opinion was at last obtained to the 
efifect that the "290" might lawfully be detained, 
and an order w^as issued in accordance therewith. 

The Confederate agents were well aw^are of 
the efforts of Mr. Adams and his assistants, and 
suspected the nature of the errand of the Tus- 
carora. Friends of the builders and others were 
invited to participate in a trial trip of ''No. 290" 
on July 29th. Her armament was not yet on 
board. The still unfinished deck was decorated 
with flags, and occupied by a gay party of pleas- 



l6 ESCAPE OP 

lire seekers, including a number of ladies, and 
several British custom house officials. The ves- 
sel dropped down the Mersey, and the revellers 
partook of luncheon in the cabin. Then a tug 
steamed alongside, and the surprised guests 
were requested to step on board. Bunting and 
luncheon were hastily hustled out of the way, 
and holiday ease instantly gave way to the work 
of getting to sea. Anchor was dropped in 
Moelfre Bay on the coast of Wales, and prep- 
arations for a voyage were rapidly pushed for- 
ward. A tug brought out about twenty-five more 
men, and the crew signed shipping articles for 
Nassau. 

• At two o'clock on the morning of July 31st 
-'No. 290" turned her prow toward the Irish sea. 
On the same morning came the British officials 
with the order for her detention. Information 
of the proposed seizure had leaked out through 
the medium of Confederate spies, and the bird 
had flown. 

Meanwhile the Federal agents had discovered 
the location of "No. 290'' at Moelfre Bay, and 
the Tuscarora proceeded to Queen stown and 



THE "290." 17 

thence up St. George's Channel in quest of her. 

Mr. Adams telegraphed Captain Craven : 

At latest yesterday she was off Point Lynas; you 
must catch her if you can, and, if necessary, follow her 
across the Atlantic. 

But the fleeing steamer passed through the 
North Channel, around the north coast of Ire- 
land and vanished in the broad ocean. The Tus- 
carora at once abandoned the chase. 



CHAPTER III. 

ARMING AT THE AZORES. 

y^APTAIN BULLOCH had gone ashorewith 
^-^ the pilot at the Giant's Causeway, in the 
north of Ireland, and the vessel was under the 
command of Captain Butcher. During the next 
nine days the "290" struggled with strong head 
winds and a heavy sea, shaping her course to- 
ward the southwest. The speed at which she was 
driven was attended with some damage to the 
vessel and considerable discomfort to her crew, 
but immediate armament w^as a pressing neces- 
sity, and haste was made the first consideration. 
On the loth of August the welcome words 
"Land ho!*' were wafted down from the fore- 
masthead, and the "290" or "Enrica," as she had 
been christened in the shipping articles, came 
to an anchor — not at Nassau, but in the secluded 
bay of Praya in the little-frequented island of 



20 ARMING AT 

Terceira, one of the Azores. As an excuse for 
anchoring in their bay Captain Butcher repre- 
sented to the Portuguese authorities that his 
engines had broken down. This being accepted 
as sufficient, the crew set to work ostensibly to 
repair them, but really to prepare the vessel for 
the reception of her guns. Three days were 
spent in quarantine. The inhabitants treated the 
new comers very civilly, and they were regaled 
with fruits and vegetables. Water was scarce, 
and meat had to be brought from Angra, on the 
other side of the island. On the 13th a United 
States whaling schooner arrived, and one of the 
crew of the "Enrica" was indiscreet enough to 
make known the real character of his vessel, 
whereupon the whaler hastily departed. 

At last, on the i8th of August, the anxiety 
of Captain Butcher was relieved by the arrival 
of the bark Agrippina from London, under com- 
mand of Captain McQueen, with a cargo of am- 
munition, coal, stores of various kinds, and the 
necessary guns for the steamer's armament. In 
response to the inquiries of the harbor officials 
her commander stated that she had sprung a leak, 



THE AZORES. 21 

which would necessitate repairs before she could 
resume her voyage. 

The next day Captain Butcher ran alongside 
the bark, and having erected a pair of large 
shears, proceeded to transfer her cargo to 
the deck of the ''Enrica." This brought of^ 
the Portuguese officials, furious that he should 
presume to communicate with a vessel which had 
two more days of quarantine to run. They were 
told that the Agrippina was in a sinking con- 
dition, and a removal of her cargo was absolutely 
necessary in order to repair the leak. Finally, 
Captain Butcher, feigning a passion in his turn, 
protested angrily that he was only performing a 
service of humanity, and was doing no more for 
the captain of the bark than any Englishman 
would do for another in distress. 

The Portuguese withdrew, and the trans- 
shipment proceeded without further protest. 
Two days later (August 20th) when this work 
was nearly completed, the smoke of a steamer 
was discovered on the horizon. After a period 
of anxious suspense on board the two vessels, 
she was made out from signals to be the English 



22 ARMING AT 

Steamer Bahama, from Liverpool, commanded 
by Captain Tessier, She had on board the future 
officers of the "Enrica," about thirty more sea- 
men, $50,000 in EngHsh sovereigns and $50,000 
in bank bills, together w^ith some less important 
stores. Captain Bulloch was also a passenger 
in her. 

The Bahama took the Agrippina in tow, and 
the three vessels proceeded around to Angra. 
Here there was more trouble with the authori- 
ties. The latter could hardly help knowing the 
warlike character of the stores which were being- 
transferred, and notwithstanding the fact that the 
British flag was flying from all three of the ves- 
sels, they suspected some connection between 
them and the war in America. In common with 
other European governments, Portugal had is- 
sued a proclamation of neutrality, and all her 
subjects had been warned to conform to the in- 
ternational law governing neutrals. 

Captain Bulloch flitted from vessel to vessel, 
rtccompanied sometimes by a small man with a 
gray mustache and wearing citizen's clothes, 
whom the officers of the ''Enrica" greeted as 



THE AZORES. 23 

Captain Semmes, late commander of the Con- 
federate States steamer Sumter. Captain Butcher 
was still nominally in command, and communi- 
cations from the shore came addressed to him. 
An English consul was stationed at Angra, and 
he sent word that the authorities insisted that the 
vessels should go to East Angra, as West Angra 
was not a port of entry. Captain Butcher re- 
plied that he wished to take in coal from the 
bark, and that he would go outside the marine 
league for that purpose. The three vessels stood 
along the coast. Gun carriages were hoisted out 
and as many guns mounted as possible. At 
night the "Enrica" and the bark returned to 
Angra. The Bahama kept outside. The next 
morning the English consul came on board with 
several custom house ofHcials. and the ships hav- 
ing been regularly entered on the custom house 
books, Portuguese dignity was satisfied, and 
peace once more reigned supreme. 

La:te on Saturday evening, August 23d, the 
coaling was finished, and six of the eight guns on 
the ''Enrica" were ready for use. The next day 
the vessels steered for the open sea, and the offi- 



24 ARMING AT 

cers of the newly armed steamer, having made 
certain beyond the possibiHty of dispute that 
they were outside of Portuguese jurisdiction, the 
seamen were called aft, and Captain Semmes, in 
full Confederate uniform, stepped upon the quar- 
ter deck and read his commission from Jefferson 
Davis. A starboard gun emphasized the cha- 
meleon change, as the British flag dropped to 
the deck and was replaced by the stars and bars. 
The new-made warship now had a command- 
er, but she still had no crew. It was an anxious 
moment for Captain Semmes. The success of 
his enterprise lay in the hands of the motley 
group of sailors before him, representing nearly 
every country of western Europe, and gathered 
up in the sailors' boarding houses of Liverpool. 
Under written instructions from Captain Bul- 
loch, Clarence R. Yonge, who was to be pay- 
master, had fraternized with the crew on the out- 
ward voyage and done what was possible to im- 
press them -with the justice of the Southern 
cause, and what was probably more to the pur- 
pose, told them what might be looked for in the 
way of pay and prize money. Other emissaries 



THE AZORES. 25 

had been equally active among the thirty men 
who came out in the Bahama. But none of these 
men had signed anything by which they could 
be bound, and who could say what notions might 
be in their heads? 

The small band played "Dixie," and as the 
last strains died away Captain Semmes began 
his speech to the crew^ He briefly explained the 
causes of the war as viewed from the Southern 
standpoint, and said that he felt sure that Provi- 
dence would bless their efforts to rid the South 
of the Yankees. The mission of the vessel, he 
said, was to cripple the commerce of the United 
States, but he should not refuse battle under 
proper conditions. There were only four or five 
Northern v-e'ssels which were more than a match 
for tbem, and in an English built heart of oak 
like this and surrounded as he saw himself by 
British hearts of oak, he would not strike his flag 
for any one of them. 

"Let me once see you proficient in the use of 
your weapons," he said, "and trust me for very 
soon giving you an opportunity to show the 
world of what metal vou are made." 



26 ARMING AT 

The cruise would be one of excitement and 
adventure. They would visit many parts of the 
world, where they would have "liberty" given 
them on proper occasions. They would receive 
about double the ordinary wages, and payment 
would be made in gold. In addition to this, the 
Confederate government would vote them prize 
money for every vessel and cargo destroyed. 

When the boatswain's call announced the 
close of the meeting eighty men out of the two 
crews signed the new articles. Those who re- 
fused to sign were given free passage to En- 
gland in the Bahama. Captain Bulloch took a 
fraternal leave of Captain Semmes, the Bahama 
and the Agrippina set sail for British waters, and 
the Confederate States sloop-of-war Alabama 
went forth on her mission of destruction. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SEMMES AND HIS OFFICERS. 

CAPTAIN RAPHAEL SEMMES was a 
typical representative of Southern chivalry. 
He was an ardent admirer of the South and a 
firm believer in her peculiar "institution." His 
memoirs, written after the war, breathe secession 
in every line. He was born in Charles county, 
Maryland, Sept. 27, 1809. At the age of seven- 
teen he received an appointment as midshipman, 
but did not enter active service until six years 
later, meanwhile adding the study of law to his 
naval studies. In 1834, at the end of his first 
cruise, he was admitted to the bar. In 1837 he 
was made a lieutenant, and commanded the 
United States brig Somers, which assisted in 
blockading the Mexican coast during the war 
with that country. While in chase of another 
vessel a terrific gale arose. The Somers was 



28 SEMMES AND 

foundered and most of her crew were drowned. 
A court martial acquitted Semme's of any fault in 
this matter, and in 1855 he was promoted to the 
rank of commander. In February, 1861, he was 
a member of the Lighthouse Board, of which 
body he had been secretary for several years. 

The provisional government of the Confed- 
eracy was not yet a fortnight old when he was 
summoned to Montgomery. Hastily resigning 
his Federal commission, he met Jefferson Davis 
in that city, and was soon speeding northward on 
an important mission. Mr. Davis had not yet 
fully made up his cabinet, had not even a private 
secretary apparently, for Semmes' instructions 
were in Davis' own handwriting. The funds for 
the trip were borrowed from a private banker. 
Semmes visited the arsenals at Richmond and 
Washington, and the principal workshops in 
New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, in 
search of information and supplies. In New 
York he procured a large quantity of percussion 
caps, and shipped them to Montgomery. Thou- 
sands of pounds of gunpowder were also shipped 
southward by him before any hindrance was 
placed in the way of such operations. 



HIS OFFICERS. 29 

Semmes entered the Confederate navy with 
the rank of commander, the same which he had 
held in the Federal service. He was promoted 
to captain about the time he took command of 
the Alabama, and near the close of the war was 
again promoted to rear admiral. April i8th, 
1 861, he was ordered to take command of the 
steamer Sumter, at New Orleans. More than a 
month was spent in converting the innocent 
packet steamer into a war vessel, and before he 
could get to sea the mouths of the Mississippi 
were blockaded by a Federal fleet. The propel- 
ler of the Sumter could not be raised, and when 
she was under sail alone, the propeller dragged 
through the water, greatly retarding her speed. 

On the 30th of June Semmes succeeded in 
running the blockade, and within a week he had 
captured eight merchant vessels, six of which he 
took into the port of Cienfuegos, Cuba. The 
captain general of Cuba ordered the prizes to be 
detained until the subject of their disposition 
could be referred to the Spanish government. 
Ultimately most governments refused to permit 
Avar vessels with prizes of cither the United 



30 



SEMMES AND 



States or the Confederate States to enter then- 
ports. The vessels which were taken into Cien- 
fuegos were turned over to their former owners. 
As it was impossible to get into a Confed- 
erate port with his prizes. Captain Semmes was 
forced either to destroy or to release those which 
he took. After capturing ten more vessels, most 
of which were burned, the boilers of the Sumter 
gave out, and she was blockaded by Federal 
cruisers in the port of Gibraltar. In March, 
1862, further efforts to utilize her as a war ves- 
sel were abandoned, and her offtcers made their 
wav to England, where many of them were sub- 
sequently assigned to positions in the Alabama. 
Captain Semmes proceeded to Nassau, where he 
found a communication from Stephen R. Mal- 
lorv, the Confederate secretary of the navy, di- 
recting him to assume command of the Alabama. 
In reply he wrote a letter, of which the follow- 
ing is an extract: 

Upon my arrival in London I found that the Oreto 
had been dispatched some weeks before to this place; 
and Commander Bulloch having informed me that he 
had your order assig^nin.s him to the command of the 
second ship he was building [the Alabama], I had no 
alternative but to return to the Confederate States 



HIS OFFICERS. 



31 



for orders. It is due to Commander Bulloch to say, 
however, that he offered to place himself entirely un- 
der my instructions, and even to relinquish to me the 
command of the new ship; but I did not feel at lib- 
erty to interfere with your orders. 

While in London I ascertained that a number of 
steamers were being prepared to run the blockade, 
with arms and other supplies for the Confederate 
States, and, instead of dispatching my officers at once 
for these states, I left them to take charge of the 
ships mentioned, as they should be gotten ready for 
sea, and run them in to their several destinations — 
deeming this the best service they could render the 
government, under the circumstances. I came hither 
myself, accompanied by my first lieutenant and sur- 
geon — Kell and Gait — a passenger in the British 
steamer Melita, whose cargo of arms and supplies is 
also destined for the Confederate States. It is for- 
tunate that I made this arrangement, as many of my 
officers still remain in London, and I shall return 
thither in time to take most of them with me to the 
Alabama. 

In obedience to your order assigning me to the 
command of this ship, I wall return by the first con- 
veyance to England, where the jomt efforts of Com- 
mander Bulloch and myself will be directed to the 
preparation of the ship for sea. I will take with me 
Lieutenant Kell, Surgeon Gait and First Lieutenant 
of Marines Howell — Mr. Howell and Lieutenant Strib- 
ling [Stribling had been second lieutenant of the Sum- 
ter] having reached Nassau a few days before me, in 
the British steamer Bahama, laden with arms, cloth- 
ing and stores for the Confederacy. At the earnest 
"entreaty of Lieutenant-Commanding Maffit, I have 
consented to permit Lieutenant Stribling to remain 
with him, as his first lieutenant on board the Oreto 
(Florida), — the officers detailed for that vessel not 
yet having arrived. Mr. Stribling's place on board 
the Alabama will be supplied b}^ Midshipman Arm- 
strong, promoted, whom I will recall from Gibralter, 
where I left him in charge of the Sumter. It will, 
doubtless, be a matter of some delicacy and tact to 
get the Alabama safely out of British waters without 
suspicion, as Mr. Adams, the Northern envoy, and 
his numerous satellites in the shape of consuls and 
paid agents, are exceedingly vigilant in their espi- 
onage. 



32 



SEMMES AND 



We cannot, of course, think of arming her in a 
British port, this must be done at some concerted 
rendezvous, to which her battery, and a large por- 
tion of her crew must be sent in a neutral merchant 
vessel. The Alabama will be a fine ship, quite equal 
to encounter any of the enemy's steam sloops, of the 
class of the Iroquois, Tuscarora and Dakotah, and I 
shall feel much more independent in her upon the high 
seas than I did in the little Sumter. 

I think well of your suggestion of the East Indies 
as a cruising ground, and I hope to be in the track 
of the enemy's commerce in those seas as early as 
October or November next; when I shall, doubtless, 
be able to lay other rich "burnt ofiferings" upon the 
altar of our country's liberties. 

John Mcintosh Kell, the first lieutenant of 
the Alabama, had occupied the same position in 
the Sumter. He had served twenty years in the 
United States navy, had been in the war with 
Mexico, and had seen a great deal of active serv- 
ice. The second heutenant, R. F. Armstrong, 
and the third lieutenant, Joseph D. Wilson, also 
came from the Sumter, and were fresh from the 
instructions of the United States naval academy 
at Annapolis. The fourth lieutenant was John 
Low, an Englishman, and a master of seaman- 
ship. The fifth lieutenant, Arthur Sinclair, came 
of a family wdiich had furnished two captains to 
the United States navy. The acting master, I. 
D. Bulloch, was a yoimger brother of Command- 
er Bulloch. Dr. F. L. Gait, from the Sumter, 




First Lieutenant J. McIntosh Kell. 



34 SEMMES AND 

and the ill-fated Dr. D. H. Llewelyn, of Wilt- 
shire, England, occupied the positions of sur- 
geon and assistant surgeon respectively. Lieu- 
tenant of Marines B. K. Howell was a brother- 
in-law of Jefferson Davis, and Midshipman E. A. 
Mafifit was a son of the commander of the Oreto, 
soon to be known as the Florida. Other officers 
were Chief Engineer Miles J. Freeman and three 
assistants, who were excellent machinists and 
able to make any repairs which could be made 
with the appliances on board, Midshipman E. M. 
Anderson and Master's Mates G. T. Fullam and 
James Evans. 

The Alabama was 220 feet long, 32 feet in 
breadth of beam, and 18 feet from deck to keel. 
She carried two horizontal engines of 300 horse 
power each, and had bunkers for 350 tons of 
coal, sufficient for eighteen days' continuous 
steaming. Captain Semmes was, however, very 
economical with his coal supply and only used 
the engines for emergencies. The Alabama 
proved to be a good sailor under canvas, and 
the greater number of her prizes were taken 
simply under sail. This enabled the vessel to 



HIS OFFICERS. 35 

keep at sea three or four months at a time, and 
to strike Northern commerce at the most un- 
expected places, while only once did a Federal 
war vessel succeed in getting a glimpse of her 
against the will of her commander. 

The engines were provided with a condensing 
apparatus, which supplied the crew with water. 
The Alabama w^as barkentine rigged, her stand- 
ing gear being entirely of wire rope. Her pro- 
peller was so built as to be readily detached from 
the shaft, and in fifteen minutes could be lifted 
out of the water in a well constructed for the 
purpose, and so would not impede the speed of 
the vessel when under sail. On the main deck 
the vessel was pierced for twelve guns, but car- 
ried only eight; one Blakely hundred-pounder 
rifled gun, pivoted forward, one eight-inch solid- 
shot gun, pivoted abaft the mainmast, and three 
thirty-two pounders on each side. 

The semicircular cabin at the stern, with its 
horse-hair sofa and horse-shoe shaped table, was 
appropriated to the use of Captain Semmes, and 
became the center of attraction for hero-wor- 
shippers when the vessel was in port. A little 



36 

forward of the mizzen mast was the steering ap- 
paratus, a double wheel inscribed with the 
French motto : 

"Aide-toi et Dieu t'aidera."* 



'Aid thyself and God will aid thee.' 



CHAPTER V. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE WHALERS. 

T^HE Confederate flag was first hoisted on the 
Alabama, Sunday, August 24th, 1862. 
When once the shipping articles had been signed 
coaxing and persuasion were at an end, and the 
man with the gray mustache had become a dic- 
tator, to disobey whom meant severe or even 
capital punishment. Semmes says : 

The democratic part of the proceedings closed as 
soon as the articles were signed. The "public meet- 
ing" just described was the first and last ever held 
on board the Alabama, and no other stump speech 
was ever made to the crew. When I wanted a man 
to do anything after this, I did not talk to him 
about "nationalities" or "liberties" or "double wages," 
but I gave him a rather sharp order, and if the order 
was not obeyed in "double-quick," the delinquent 
found himself in limbo. Democracies may do very 
well for the land, but monarchies, and pretty absolute 
monarchies at that, are the only successful govern- 
ments for the sea. 

The hasty transfer of stores to the deck of the 
vessel, a large part of which had been accom- 
plished in a rolling sea, had not been favorable 



38 DESTRUCTION OF 

to an orderly bestowal. A gale sprang up, and 
the boxes and chests on deck went tumbling 
about. The hot sun of the Azores had opened 
seams in the deck and upper works, and the 
clank of the pumps, so familiar to those who had 
been in the Sumter during the latter part of her 
cruise, once more disturbed their dreams. 

It was the purpose of Captain Semmes to 
strike at the American whaling vessels which he 
knew would be at work in the vicinity of the 
Azores. The season would close about the first 
of October^ after which time the whales would 
seek other feeding waters. The following week 
was spent in getting the pivot guns mounted 
and in putting the ship in order. The captain 
was not at once successful in locating the whal- 
ing fleet. On Friday, August 29th, a blank shot 
was fired at a brig which had been pursued all 
day, but the latter refused to heave to or show 
her colors, and not having the look of an Amer- 
ican craft, the chase was abandoned. Another 
week was spent in the search, and several ves- 
sels were overhauled, but all showed neutral 
colors. September 5th the Alabama was in 



THE WHALERS. 39 

chase of a brig which showed very fast saiUng 
qualities, and came unexpectedly upon a ship 
lying to in mid-ocean with her foretopsail to the 
mast. Excitement grew apace as a nearer ap- 
proach justified the opinion that the motionless 
sti anger was a Yankee whaler. The English 
flag was hoisted on the Alabama, and all doubt 
was set at rest when the ship responded with 
the stars and stripes. The chase of the brig was 
forthwith abandoned. The master of the whaler 
made no effort to get under way. He had struck 
a fine large sperm whale, which was now along- 
side and partly hoisted out of the water by the 
yard tackles, and his crew were hard at work, 
cutting it up and getting the blubber aboard. A 
boat was sent from the Alabama, and as the 
boarding officer gained the whaler's deck, the 
cruiser dropped her false colors, and ran up the 
Confederate flag. 

The astonishment and consternation of Cap- 
tain Abraham Osborn when he realized that he 
was a prisoner and that his ship and cargo 
were subject to confiscation, can only be im- 
agined. International law, which is so careful 



40 DESTRUCTION OF 

of property rights on land, affords no protection 
whatever at sea in the presence of a hostile force. 
The ship was the Ocmulgee, of Edgartown, 
Massachusetts. Captain and crew were removed 
to the deck of the Alabama and placed in irons. 
Some beef, pork and other stores were also 
tranferred, and the ship left, anchored to the 
whale, as Captain Semmes did not wish to burn 
her during the night, for fear of alarming other 
whaling masters, who were probably not far 
away. Next morning the torch was applied, and 
the most of the Alabama's crew saw for the first 
time a burning ship. 

Sunday, September 7th, the Alabama ap- 
proached the south shore of the island of Flores, 
one of the westernmost of the Azore group, and 
the crew of the Ocmulgee were permitted to pull 
ashore in their own whaleboats. At four o'clock 
p. m. the Alabama filled away to head off a 
schooner which appeared to be running in for the 
island, and hoisted the English flag. The schoon- 
er failed to respond, and a gun was fired, but she 
still held her course. A shot was fired across 
her bow, but even this failed to stop her. Then a 



42 DESTRUCTION OF 

shot whistled between her fore and main masts, 
and the futihty of attempting to escape being 
apparent, she rounded to and hoisted the United 
States flag. Her master, a young man not over 
twenty-eight, was well aware of the fate which 
had befallen him. His vessel was the Starlight, 
from Boston, and he was homeward bound from 
the Azores, having on board a number of pas- 
sengers to be landed at Flores, including several 
ladies. He also had dispatches from the Amer- 
ican consul at Fayal to Secretary Seward, nar- 
rating the proceedings of the Alabama at Ter- 
ceira. The captain and the six seamen who con- 
stituted his crew, were placed in irons. Next 
day the cruiser proceeded again to the island of 
Flores, and sent the prisoners on shore in a 
boat. 

The obliging governor of the island paid the 
Alabama a visit, and offered her officers the hos- 
pitalities of the place. In the afternoon (Sept. 
8th) the whaling bark Ocean Rover, of New 
Bedford, Massachusetts, was captured. She had 
been out over three years, had sent home one or 
two cargoes of oil, and now had about i,ioo 



THE WHALERS. 43 

barrels of oil on board. The captain and crew 
were permitted to pull ashore in their six whale 
boats, into which they had conveyed a consider- 
able quantity of their personal efifects. 

Before daylight the next morning Captain 
Semmes was aroused and notified that a large 
bark was close by. She proved to be the Alert, 
of New London, Connecticut, sixteen days out. 
Her crew pulled ashore in their boats. During 
the day the three prizes (Starlight, Ocean Rovei 
and Alert) were burned. Wliile the hulks were 
still smoking the schooner Weathergauge, of 
Provincetown, Massachusetts, was captured. 
This vessel and the Alert brought plenty of 
Northern newspapers, and those on board the 
cruiser were thus informed of the progress of the 
war. The whaler Eschol, of New Bedford, came 
near enough to make out the burning vessels 
with a glass, but her master kept her close to 
the shore, determined to run her upon the beach 
rather than permit her to be captured, and she 
escaped without being seen. 

On September 13th the brig Altamaha, of 
New Bedford, fell a prey to the spoiler, and dur- 



44 DESTRUCTION OF 

ing the night the Benjamin Tucker, of the same 

town met a Hke fate. The boarding officer on 

this occasion was Master's Mate G. T. Fullam, 

an EngHshman, whose home was at Hull. He 

wrote in his diary : 

Darkness prevented us knowing who she was, so 
I went on board to examine her papers, which, if Yan- 
kee, I was to signal it and heave to until daylight. 
What I did on boarding this vessel was the course 
usually adopted in taking prizes. Pulling under the 
stern, I saw it was the whaling ship Benjamin Tucker, 
of and from New Bedford. Gaining the quarter deck, 
I was welcomed with outstretched hands. 

The unsuspecting master answered all ques- 
tions promptly touching the character of his ship 
and cargo, and was then told that the vessel was 
a prize to the Confederate States steamer Ala- 
bama. This ship had 340 barrels of oil and made 
a brilliant bonfire. One of the crew, a Holland- 
er, shipped on the Alabama. Early the next 
morning (Sept. 16th) the whaling schooner 
Courser, of Provincetown, Massachusetts, was 
captured. The Alabama then ran in toward 
Flores, and to the rapidly increasing colony of 
shipless mariners on that island were added the 
sixty-eight seamen forming the crews of the last 



I 



THE WHALERS. 45 

three prizes. The Courser was used as a target 
until dark and then burned. 

The forenoon of the next day was taken up 
with the chase of another whaler, the Virginia, 
of New Bedford. She was overhauled at noon 
and burned. The next day (Sept. i8th), with the 
wind blowing half a gale, the Alabama chased 
the Elisha Dunbar, also a New Bedford wdialer. 
Both vessels carried their topgallant sails, al- 
though the masts bent and threatened to go over 
the side. In three hours the Alabama had drawn 
within gunshot, and her master judged it best to 
obey the summons conveyed by a blank cart- 
ridge. Sails were hastily taken in on both ves- 
sels. Captain Semmes hesitated somewhat about 
launching boats in so rough a sea, but he was 
fearful that the gale would increase and that the 
prize would escape during the night. The Ala- 
bama reached a position to windward of her vic- 
tim, so that the boats' crews might pull with the 
wind and waves, and two of the best boats were 
launched, gaining the Dunbar's deck in safety. 
The Alabama then dropped round to the leeward 
of the prize, so that the boats might return in 



46 DESTRUCTION OF 

the same manner, with the wind. The Dunbar's 
master and crew were ordered into the boats, and 
hastily applying the torch, the boarding officer 
gained the lee of the Alabama where a rope was 
thrown to him, and the boats' crews with their 
prisoners got on board the cruiser without acci- 
dent. The fire quickly gathered volume, and the 
flames streamed heavenward as the doomed ship 
drove before the blast. The storm burst and 
thunder and lightning added their magnificence 
to the sublime scene. The fire was blazing too 
fiercely to be affected by the rain. Now and then 
a flaming sail would tear loose from its fasten- 
ings and go flying far out over the sea. At last 
the masts crashed overboard, and only the hull 
was left to rock to and fro until nearly full of 
water, and then dive deep into the ocean. This 
was the only ship burned by Captain Semmes 
without examining her papers, but as the Elisha 
Dunbar was a whaler there was little danger of 
burning any goods belonging to a neutral owner. 
In thirteen days the Alabama had destroyed 
property to the amount of $230,000. Captain 
Tilton, of the Virginia, had remonstrated with 



THE WHALERS. 47 

his captor and asked to be released, and Captain 
Senimes had replied : 

"You Northerners are destroying our prop- 
erty, and sending- stone fleets to block up our 
harbors. New Bedford people are holding war 
meetings and offering $200 bounty for volun- 
teers, and now we are going to retaliate." 

Captain Tilton resented the indignity of be- 
ing put in irons and was told that this was a 
measure of retaliation for the treatment which 
had been meted out to the paymaster of the 
Sumter, Henry Myers, who was arrested in 
Morocco by order of the United States consul, 
put in irons, and sent to New York. During 
the time Captain Tilton remained on the Ala- 
bama (nearly three weeks) he was never permit- 
ted to have more than one of his irons off at a 
time. Captain Gifford and crew, of the Elisha 
Dunbar, were treated in like manner. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BURNING THE GRAIN FLEET. 

A WEEK of tempestuous weather followied. 
The prisoners from the last two prizes oc- 
cupied the open deck, with no other shelter than 
an improvised tent made from a sail. They were 
frequently drenched by driving rain or by the 
waves which washed over the deck, and often 
awoke at night with their bodies half under 
water. The seamen of the Alabama, who bunked 
below, were not much better off, for the main 
deck above them leaked like a sieve. A few days 
of pleasant weather were occupied in calking the 
decks. 

The ship was now far to the westward of 
Flores and at no great distance from the banks 
of Newfoundland. On the morning of October 
3d two sails were seen. The wind was light; 
both the strangers approached with all sails set, 



50 BURNING THE 

and apparently without the shghtest suspicion 
of any danger. When within a few hundred yards 
the Alabama fired a gun and ran up the Confed- 
erate flag. There was nothing to be done but to 
surrender. The prizes proved to be the Brilliant 
and the Emily Farnum, both conveying cargoes 
of grain and flour from New York to England. 
The boarding officer clambered up the side of 
the Brilliant and ordered Captain Hagar to go 
on board the Alabama with his ship's papers. 
Having been shown into the cabin of the cruiser, 
the master was subjected to a sharp cross-ex- 
amination, in the course of which he said that 
part of his cargo was on English account. 

"Do you take me for a d — d fool?" demanded 
Captain Semmes. "Where are the proofs that 
part of your cargo is on English account?" 

The papers not having any consular certifi- 
cates attached, were not accepted as proof of for- 
eign ownership. The beautiful vessel, contain- 
ing all the worldly wealth of her captain, who 
owned a one-third interest in her, was doomed 
to destruction. 

The master of the Emily Farnum was more 



GRAIN FLEET. 



51 



fortunate. His ship's papers showed conclusive- 
ly that the cargo was owned in England, and 
was therefore not subject to seizure. ' He was 
ordered to take on board his vessel the crew of 
the Brilliant and also the suffering prisoners on 
the Alabama and proceed on his voyage. The 
Brilliant was then set on fire. Fullam wrote in 
his diary : 

It seemed a fearful thing to burn such a cargo as 
the BrilHant had, when I thought how the Lancashire 
operatives would have danced for joy had they it 
shared among them. I never saw a vessel burn with 
such brilliancy, the flames completely enveloping the 
masts, hull and rigging in a few minutes, making a 
sight as grand as it was appalling. 

The Alabama was now in the principal high- 
way of commerce between America and Europe. 
English, French, Prussian, Hamburg and other 
flags were displayed at her summons upon the 
passing merchant vessels. If any doubt arose 
as to the nationality of any vessel, she was 
boarded and her master compelled to produce his 
papers. Masters' Mate Evans was an adept in 
determining the nationality of merchant ships. 
Captain Semmes soon learned that if Evans re- 
ported after a look through the glass, ''She's 
Yankee, sir," he was absolutely sure of a prize 




Master's Mate G. T. Fullam. 



GRAIN FLEET. 53 

if he could ^et within gunshot; and conversely, 
when Evans said^ "Not Yankee, sir; think she's 
English, sir," (or French or Spanish as the case 
might be), it was a wasie of time to continue in 
pursuit, for to whatever nation she might prove 
to belong, she was invariably a neutral of some 
kind. 

On October 7th the bark Wave Crest, with 
grain for Cardifif, Wales, ran into the Alabama's 
net. She was used as a target, and in the even- 
ing was burned. The deceptive glare proved a 
decoy for the brigantine Dunkirk, also grain 
laden, bound for Lisbon, and she, too, was fired. 
One of the crew of the Dunkirk was recognized 
as George Forest, who had deserted from the 
Sumter when she lay at Cadiz some ten months 
previously. He was duly tried by court-martial 
and sentenced to serve without pay. This was 
found later to be a grievous mistake. Forest was 
a born mutineer, was a glib talker, and acquired 
great influence among the crew. Had he pos- 
sessed the added qualification of being able to 
hold his tongue, the career of the Alabama might 
some day have been suddenly cut short. But 



54 BURNING THE 

having already had his pay sacrificed, and so, as 
he said, having nothing to lose, he was often 
openly defiant, and was constantly undergoing 
punishment of one sort or another. 

The next capture was that of the fine packet 
ship Tonawanda_, bound from Philadelphia to 
Liverpool with a large cargo of grain and about 
seventy-five passengers, nearly half of whom 
were women and children. Captain Semmes was 
in a dilemma. The Alabama was already crowd- 
ed with prisoners. But he was reluctant to re- 
lease so valuable a vessel. A prize crew was put 
on board, in the hope that the passengers and 
crew might be transferred to some ship having 
a neutral cargo, or one of less value than the 

Tonawanda. Her captain was sent aboard the 
Alabama as a precautionary measure, and the 

prisoners of the Wave Crest and Dunkirk trans- 
ferred to the prize. 

The next victim was the fine large ship Man- 
chester. A bond for $80,000 was now exacted 
from the captain of the Tonawanda, and having 
added the crew of the Manchester to the crowds 
on his ship, he was suffered to proceed on his 



GRAIN FLEET. 55 

way, much to the deUght of his passengers. The 
Manchester was given to the flames. October 
15th the LampHghter, with tobacco for Gib- 
rakar, was captured and burned. The weather 
was rough and boarding somewhat dangerous, 
but the capture and burning were effected with- 
out accident. 

The newspapers found on the prizes kept 
Captain Semmes informed in regard to the 
events of the war and often gave the whereabouts 
of the Northern cruisers which he wished to 
avoid. The escape of the "290'' was known in 
New York, but that she would develop in so 
short a time into the pest of the Atlantic was not 
thought of. The tactics of Captain Semmes were 
always the same. A false flag was invariably 
used until the victim got within striking distance, 
and then hauled down, to be replaced by the 
stars and bars. For this purpose flags of various 
nations were used — French, Spanish, Portu- 
guese and the like, and often that of the United 
States; but the one most frequently employed 
was that of Great Britain. 



56 BURNING THE 

The crew of the Alabama taken as a whole 
were a turbulent lot. Boarding officers had little 
or no control over their boats' crews. Knowing 
that the guns of the Alabama would answer for 
their safety, they would rush below like a gang 
of pirates, staving open chests and boxes and 
carrying ofif anything that took their fancy. The 
clothing and personal effects of sailors were 
often heartlessly destroyed After being trans- 
ferred to the Alabama, however, the prisoners 
were comparatively free from this sort of perse- 
cution ; and with the exception of being placed 
in irons, their treatment seems to have been as 
good as circumstances permitted. As all private 
looting was contrary to the captain's orders, the 
sailors belonging to the boarding crews did not 
often venture to carry anything on board their 
own ship which could not readily be concealed. 
Whisky they frequently did find, and occasion- 
ally one of them had to be hoisted over the Ala- 
bama's side, very much the worse for his ex- 
plorations among the liquid refreshments. 

Although directly in the path of American 
commerce and onlv a few hundred miles from 



GRAIN FLEET. 57 

New York, the United States flag now began to 
be a rarity. From the i6th to the 20th of Oc- 
tober nine vessels were chased and boarded and 
their papers examined, but all of them were neu- 
trals. The reason is not far to seek. The cap- 
tain of the Emily Farnum had promised Captain 
Semmes as one of the conditions of his release, 
that he would continue his voyage to Liverpool ; 
but the moment he was out of sight, he put his 
ship about and ran into Boston and gave the 
alarm. The American shipping interests 
throughout the seaboard were thrown into an 
uproar of terror. The experience of Captain 
Tilton in trying to escape in the Virginia had led 
him to believe that the Alabama was consider- 
ably swifter than she really was, and extrava- 
gant estimates of her speed were accepted as 
true. 

Secretary Welles hastily dispatched all the 
available warships in search of the Alabama, but 
he put too much trust in the report of her prob- 
able future movements, which Ifad been brought 
in innocently enough by Captain Hagar, and 
much valuable time was lost beating up and 



58 BURNING THE 

down the banks of Newfoundland and the coast 
of Nova Scotia, while the Alabama had shifted 
her position to a point mnch nearer New York, 
and thence southward. The sober second 
thought of the navy department, that with the 
advent of cold weather the Alabama would seek 
a field of operations farther south — probably in 
the West Indies — proved to be correct. But the 
West Indies was a very large haystack and the 
Alabama, comparatively, a very small needle. 

The Northern newspapers found on the prizes 
were carefully scanned by the captain and his 
secretary for valuable information, after which 
they were passed on to the other officers in the 
ward room and sterage and thence into the hands 
of the crew. These teemed with denunciation 
of the "pirates," and the members of the crew 
were described as consisting of "the scum of 
England," an expression which rankled in the 
sailor's heart and for which he took ample ven- 
geance when his opportunity came. 

The name of Captain Semmes became a syn- 
onym of heartless cruelty. Captain Tilton said 
he treated his prisoners and crew like dogs, and 



GRAIN FLEET. 59 

Captain Hagar said that it was his custom to 
burn his prizes at night, so that he might gather 
round him fresh victims among those who sailed 
toward the burning ships in order to save human 
Hfe. The British premier, Lord Palmerston, and 
his minister of foreign affairs, Lord John Rus- 
sell, were denounced for letting loose such a fire- 
brand. 

The officers and crev/ were almost universally 
referred to as pirates. Indeed, the newspapers 
had some official warrant for this appellation. In 
his proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers 
after the capture of Fort Sumter, President Lin- 
coln had declared "that if any person, under the 
pretended authority of said states or under any 
other pretence shall molest a vessel of the United 
States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, 
such persons will be held amenable to the laws 
of the United States for the prevention and pun- 
ishment of piracy." 

This proclamation may have served the pur- 
pose of frightening off a horde of privateers until 
the blockading fleets could get into place, but 
the position taken was clearly untenable when 



6o BURNING THE 

the Confederacy was recognized as a beligerant. 

Few United States vessels could get cargoes 
after the presence of the Alabama off the coast 
became known. This was true on both sides of 
the Atlantic. Ship captains on the coast of Portu- 
gal offered in vain to transport salt free of charge 
as ballast. American craft which ventured out 
took care to have their cargoes well covered 
with consular certificates of foreign ownership. 

On October i6th several days of bad weather 
culminated in a cyclone, and the Alabama was 
probably saved from foundering by the prompt 
action of Lieutenant Low, who was in charge of 
the deck, and who took the responsibility of 
wearing ship without waiting to call the captain. 
The main yard was broken and the main topsail 
torn to shreds. 



CHAPTER VIL 

SETTLING A "YANKEE HASH." 

/^A N October 21st, 1862, a large ship was seen 
^-^ carrying a cloud of canvas, and running 
with great speed before the wind. The reefs of 
the Alabama's topsails were shaken out and prep- 
arations made to set the topgallant sails in case it 
should be necessary, and the cruiser ran down 
diagonally toward the stranger's path. She was 
pronounced "Yankee'' long before she came 
within gunshot, and as she drew near a blank 
cartridge brought her to the wind. The admir- 
able seamanship displayed in bringing her to a 
speedy halt called forth the praise of even the 
Alabama's captain, and one can only wonder 
that some of her master's skill was not expended 
in avoiding this suspicious steamer idling in mid- 
ocean. The British flag she wore could hardly 
deceive anybody, after the tales which were told 



62 SETTLING A 

by the captains who were taken into Boston on 
the Emily Farnum. But doubtless Captain Saun- 
ders relied upon the fact that his cargo was well 
covered with consular certificates, remembering 
that the Farnum had escaped by having a cargo 
which was owned abroad. 

The prize proved to be the Lafayette, from 
New York, laden with grain for Belfast, Ireland. 
Captain Saunders readily obeyed the order of 
the boarding ofificer to go on board the Alabama 
with his ship's papers. He was shown into the 
presence of Captain Semmes, and produced his 
British consular certificate, with the remark that 
he supposed that was sufficient protection. After 
a hasty examination, Semmes said: 

"New Yorkers are getting smart, but it won't 
save it. It's a d — d hatched up mess." 

The Lafayette was burned. 

The decree of the "Confederate Prize Court," 
which seems to have comprehended neither more 
nor less than the Alabama's commander, was in 
this case as follows : 



"YANKEE HASH." 63 

CASE OF THE LAFAYETTE. 

The ship being under the enemy's flag and reg- 
ister, is condemned. With reference to the cargo, 
there are certificates, prepared in due form and sworn 
to before the British consul, that it was purchased, 
and shipped on neutral account. These ex parte state- 
ments are precisely such as every unscrupulous mer- 
chant would prepare, to deceive his enemy and save 
his property from capture. There are two shipping 
houses in the case; that of Craig & Nicoll and that of 
Montgomery Bros. Messrs. Craig' & Nicoll say that 
the grain shipped by them belongs to Messrs. Shaw 
& Finlay and to Messrs. Ham.ilton, Megault & 
Thompson, all of Belfast, in Ireland, to which port 
the ship is bound, but the grain is not consigned to 
them, and they could not demand possession of it 
under the bill of lading. It is, on the contrary, con- 
signed to the order of the shippers; thus leaving the 
possession and control of the property in the hands 
of the shippers. Farther: The shippers, instead of 
sending this grain to the pretended owners in a gen- 
eral ship consigned to them, they paying freight as 
usual, have chartered the whole ship, and stipulated 
themselves for the payment of all the freights. If this 
property had been, bona fide, the property of the par- 
ties in Belfast, named in the depositions, it would un- 
doubtedly have gone consigned to them in a bill of 
lading authorizing them to demand possession of it; 
and the agreement with the ship would have been that 
the consignees and owners of the property should 
pay the freight upon delivery. But even if this prop- 
erty were purchased, as pretended, by Messrs. Craig 
& Nicoll for the parties named, still, their not con- 
signing it to them and delivering them the proper 
bill of lading, passing the possession, left the prop- 
erty in the possession and under the dominion of 
Craig & Nicoll, and as such liable to capture. See 
3 Phillimore on International Law, 610, 612. to the 
efifect that if the goods are going on account of the 
shipper or subject to his order or control, they are 
good prize. They cannot even be sold and trans- 
ferred to a neutral m transitu. They must abide by 
their condition at the time of the sailing of the ship. 

The property attempted to be covered by the 
Messrs. Montgomery Bros, is shipped by Montgom- 
ery Bros., of New York, and consigned to Montgom- 
ery Bros., in Belfast. Here the consignment is all 



64 SETTLING A 

right. The possession of the property has legally 
passed to the Belfast house. But when there are two 
houses of trade doing business as partners, and one 
of them resides in the enemy's country, the other 
house, though resident in a neutral country, becomes 
also enemy, quoad the trade of the house in the en- 
emy's country, and its share in any property belonging 
to the joint concern is subject to capture, equally with 
the share of the house in the enemy's country. To this 
point see 3 Phillimore, 605. Cargo condemned. 

The next batch of prizes consisted of the 
Crenshaw, captured on the 26th of October, the 
Lauretta captured on the 28th, and the Baron 
de Castine on the 29th. The Crenshaw brought 
New York papers containing resolutions de- 
nouncing the "pirates," which had been intro- 
duced in the New York Chamber of Commerce 
by a Mr. Low, who was a member of that body, 
and had lost considerable property on account of 
the depredations of the Alabama. The cargoes 
of the Crenshaw and Laiu'etta were covered by 
certificates of foreign ownership, but these were 
bunglingly gotten up, and evidently made only 
for the purpose of avoiding condemnation, and 
Captain Semmes, being well versed in inter- 
national law, was able to pick flaws in all of 
them. The Baron de Castine was an old and 
not very valuable vessel, bound with lumber from 



"YANKEE HASH." 65 

the coast of Maine to Cuba. She was released 
on a ransom bond, and carried the crews of the 
Lafayette, Crenshaw, and Lauretta, together 
with the derisive compHments of Captain 
Semmes to Mr. Low, into the port of New York, 
then distant only two hundred miles. The other 
prizes were burned. 

The advent of the Baron de Castine carried 
fresh dismay to the shipping interests along the 
Atlantic coast. The news that a foreign consular 
certificate could not be relied upon to furnish 
protection seemed to sound the death knell of 
trade carried on in American ships. The repre- 
sentatives of the foreign governments whose 
seals had been defied were appealed to for as- 
sistance in putting an end to the career of the 
"pirate." The New York Commercial Adver- 
tiser published the following article : 

Some important facts have just been developed in 
relation to the operations of the rebel privateer Al- 
abama, and the present and prospective action of the 
British and other foreign governments, whose cit- 
izens have lost property by the piracies of her com- 
mander. The depredations of the vessel involve the 
rights of no less than three European governments — 
England, Italy and Portugal — and are likely to be- 
come a subject of special interest to all maritime 
nations. 

Already the capture and burning of the ship Lafay- 
ette, which contained an English cargo, has been the 




Destroying the Grain Fleet. 



"YANKEE HASH." 67 

occasion of a correspondence between the British con- 
sul at this port, Mr. Archibald, and Rear Admiral 
Milne, commanding the British squadron on the 
American coast; and it is stated (but we cannot 
vouch for the truth of the statement) that the admiral 
has dispatched three war vessels in pursuit of the 
pirate. The consul has also, we understand, commun- 
icated the facts of the case to the British government 
and Her Majesty's minister at Washington. What 
action will be taken by the British government re- 
mains to be seen. 

The Lafayette sailed from this port with a cargo 
of grain for Belfast, Ireland. The grain was owned 
by two English firms of this city, and the facts were 
properly certified on the bills of lading under the 
British seal. * * * 

But another case (that of the bark Lauretta) is 
about to be submitted for the consideration of the 
British authorities, as well as those of Italy and Port- 
ugal. The facts establish a clear case of piracy. The 
Lauretta, which had on board a cargo consisting prin- 
cipally of flour and staves, was burned by Semmes 
on the 28th of October. She was bound from this 
port for the island of Madeira and the port of Messina, 
Italy. Nearly a thousand barrels of flour and also 
a large number of staves were shipped by Mr. H. J. 
Burden, a British subject residing in this city, to a 
relative in Funchal, Madeira. The bill of lading bore 
the British seal af^xed by the consul, to whom the 
shipper was personally known. The other part of 
the cargo was shipped by Chamberlain, Phelps & Co. 
to the order of parties in Messina,- and this property 
was also covered by the Italian consular certificates. 

The Portuguese consul at this port also sent a 
package under seal to the authorities at Maderia, be- 
sides giving a right to enter the port and sending an 
open bill of lading. 

Captain Wells' account of the manner in which 
Semmes disposed of these documents, and which he 
has verified under oath, is not only interesting, but 
gives an excellent idea of the piratical intentions of the 
commander of the Alabama. 

The papers of the bark were, at the command of 
Semmes, taken by Captain Wells on board the Ala- 
bama. There was no American cargo and therefore 
no American papers, except those of the vessel. These, 
of course, were not inquired into. Semmes took first 



68 SETTLING A 

the packet which bore the Portuguese seal, and with 
an air which showed that he did not regard it as of the 
slightest consequence, ripped it open, and threw it 
upon the floor, with the remark that he "did not 
care a d — n for the Portuguese." The Italian bill of 
lading was treated in a similar manner, except that 
he considered it unworthy even of a remark. 

Taking up the British bill of lading and looking 
at the seal, Semmes called upon Captain Wells, with 
an oath, to explain. It was evidently the only one 
of the three he thought it worth his while to respect. 
. "Who is this Burden?" he inquired sneeringly. 
"Have you ever seen him?" 

'T am not acquainted with him, but I have seen 
him once, when he came on board my vessel," replied 
Captain Wells. 

"Is he an Englishman — does he look like an En- 
glishman?" 

"Yes," rejoined the captain. 

"I'll tell you what," exclaimed the pirate, "this is 
a d — d pretty business — it's a d — d Yankee hash, and 
I'll settle it," — whereupon he proceeded to rob the 
vessel of whatever he wanted, including Captain Wells' 
property to a considerable amount; put the crew in 
irons; removed them to the Alabama; and concluded 
by burning the vessel. 

These facts will at once be brought before the 
British consul. The preliminary steps have been taken. 
The facts will also be furnished the Portuguese consul, 
who announces his intention of placing them before his 
government; and besides whatever action the Italian 
consul here may choose to take, the parties in Mes- 
sina, to whom the property lost on the Lauretta was 
consigned, will of course do what they can to main- 
tain their own rights. The case is likely to attract 
more attention than all the previous outrages of the 
Alabama, inasmuch as property rights of the subjects 
of other nations are involved, and the real character 
of Semmes and his crew becomes manifest. 

Captain Semmes makes this sarcastic com- 
ment upon the foregoing article : 

I was not quite sure when I burned the Lafayette 
that her cargo belonged to the shippers, British mer- 
chants resident in New York. The shippers swore 
that it did not belong to them, but to other parties 



"YANKEE HASH." 69 

resident in Ireland, on whose account they had shipped 
it. I thought they swore falsely, but, as I have said, 
I was not quite certain. The Advertiser sets the 
matter at rest. It says that I was right. And it 
claims, with the most charming simplicity, that I 
was guilty of an act of piracy, in capturing and 
destroying the property of neutral merchants, dom- 
iciled in the enemy's country, and assisting him to 
conduct his trade! 

The alleged destruction of British property 
on board American ships attracted much less at- 
tention in England than in the United States. 
The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce caused a 
letter to be addressed to the British foreign office 
asking for information in regard to the matter, 
to which the following reply was made: 

Sir; I am directed by Earl Russell to reply to your 
letters of the 6th inst,, respecting the destruction by 
the Confederate steamer Alabama of British property 
embarked in American vessels and burned by that 
steamer. Earl Russell desires me to state to you that 
British property on board a vessel belonging to one 
of the belligerants must be subject to all the risks 
and contingencies of war, so far as the capture of the 
vessel is concerned. The owners of any British prop- 
erty, not being contraband of war, on board a Federal 
vessel captured and destroyed by a Confederate vessel 
of war, may claim in a Confederate Prize Court com- 
pensation for the destruction of such property. 

As the ''Confederate prize court" which con- 
demned the Alabama's prizes habitually walked 
about under her commander's hat, and as there 
was considerable doubt as to where a court com- 
petent and willing to review the decisions made, 



70 

might be located, there was not much comfort in 
this letter for American ship owners or their 
prospective customers. 

But the shippers of merchandise were not the 
only persons to whom the Baron de Castine's 
news brought fear and anxiety. The inhabitants 
of unprotected or but slightly protected towns 
along the coast already saw in imagination the 
Alabama steaming in upon them, demanding 
ransom, and leaving their homes in ashes. Cap- 
tain Semmes loved to threaten New York, and 
one of the masters last released seems to have 
gone ashore with the belief that the Alabama's 
next move would be to throw a few shells into 
that city. But a descent upon the coast would 
have put Secretary Welles in possession of a 
knowledge of her whereabouts, whereas at sea 
her commander could usually calculate the time 
when the news of her movements would reach 
the nearest telegraph office, and shift her posi- 
tion just before the time when a powerful enemy 
would be likely to arrive. 



w 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OFF DUTY AMUSEMENTS. 

HEN off duty the sailors amused them- 
selves by spmning yarns and singing 
songs. Sometimes they got up a sparring match, 
and occasionally hazing of the duller or less 
active of the crew was indulged in. .It is related 
that one sailor was nicknamed "Top-robbin" be- 
■ cause he usually began his stories svith the intro- 
duction, "When I sailed in the Taprobane, East 
Ingyman." Once he was induced to attempt a 
song, and began in a voice in which a hoarse 
bass struggled with a squeaky treble: 

Terry Lee was hung at sea 
For stabbing of his messmate true. 
And his body did swing, a horr.ble th.ng. 
At the sport of the wild sea mew! 
The whole watch shouted for him to stop, 
and he was warned ; 

"If vou ever sing again in this 'ere watch 
while we're off soundings, we'll fire you through 



72 OFF DUTY 

a lee port. Such a voice as that would raise a 
harrycane." 

"Top-robbin's" yarns, however, were treated 
with more tolerance. He had a lively imagina- 
tion and a very impressive delivery. His themes 
were of the ghostly sort — of phantom ships sail- 
ing against wind and tide, and women in white 
gliding on board in the midst of storms. 

Curiously enough, Captain Semmes, who was 
constantly called a pirate and whose name was 
associated in the minds of New England people 
with that of Captain Kidd, had gained the repu- 
tation in the forecastle of his own ship of being a 
sort of preacher, the impression doubtless dating 
from that introductory speech of his off Terceira, 
in which he predicted the blessings of Provi- 
dence upon the Alabama's efforts to rid the 
South of the Yankees. One of the forecastle 
songs is said to have run thus : 

Oh. our captain said, "When my fortune's made, 
I'll buy a church to preach in, 
And fill it full of toots and horns, 

And have a jolly Methodee screechin'. 

"And I'll pray the Lord both night and morn 

To weather old Yankee Doodle — 
And I'll run a hinfant Sunday School 
With some of the Yankee's boodle." 



AMUSEMENTS. 73 

One sailor who claimed to have been an offi- 
cer in the British navy had an excellent tenor 
voice, and delighted not only his messmates, but 
frequently the officers as well, with his rendering 
of popular songs. Even the captain used occa- 
sionally to stroll out on the bridge and listen 
with pleasure to the entertainment furnished 
with voice or violin. The following song, said 
to have been improvised by one of the crew, was 
sung on the night before the fight with the Kear- 
sarge : 

We're homeward bound, we're homeward bound, 
We soon shall stand on English ground; 
But ere that English land we see, 
We first must lick the Kersar-gee. 

At the Cape of Good Hope fourteen of the 
Alabama's crew deserted. Captain Semmes re- 
cords in his journal the fact that the Irish fiddler 
was one of the number, and calls this "one of 
our greatest losses." When the desirability of 
keeping the crew in a state of subordination and 
contentment was taken into consideration, there 
is no doubt that a petty officer or two could have 
been better spared. 



74 OFF DUTY 

The engineer now reported only four days' 
coal in the bunkers, and Captain Semmes deter- 
mined to shape his course for Martinique, in the 
West Indies, to which point Captain Bulloch had 
arranged to dispatch a fresh supply in a sailing 
vessel. 

Early on the morning of Nov. 2d, a sail was 
discovered and the Alabama immediately gave 
chase. The master of the fleeing stranger was 
not even reassured by the United States flag 
which flew from his pursuers' mast head, and 
made all haste to get out of the dangerous vicin- 
ity. He was overhauled about noon and a hint 
from the ''Persuader." as the Blakely rifle had 
come to be called, induced him to heave to. The 
boarding officer fo.und himself on the deck of the 
Levi Starbuck, a whaler expecting to spend two 
and a half years in the Pacific, and consequently 
supplied with an abundance of provisions, con- 
siderable quantities of which were transferred to 
the Alabama. New Bedford papers on board 
were only four days old, and contained the latest 
war news. 

On the morning of November 8th two sails 



AMUSEMENTS. 75 

were in sight, one of them a very large vessel. 
Master's Mate Evans, the oracle of the ship in 
the matter of the nationality of vessels, pro- 
nounced both of them Yankee. In this dilemma 
the chase of the smaller vessel, which had gone 
on during the greater part of the night, was 
abandoned, and attention concentrated upon the 
big ship. She made no effort to escape, evident- 
ly placing all faith in the lying United States flag 
w^hich the Alabama showed her. Her master 
was dumbfounded when on nearer approach the 
stars and stripes dropped to the deck and were 
replaced by the colors of the Confederacy. 

The prize was an East India trader, the T. B. 
Wales, of Boston, homeward bound from Cal- 
cutta, with a cargo consisting principally of jute, 
linseed and 1,700 bags of saltpetre, the latter des- 
tined for the Northern powder mills. The ship 
had been five months on her voyage and her 
master had never heard of the Alabama. He had 
his wife on board and also an ex-United States 
consul returning homeward with his family con- 
sisting of his wife and three little daughters. 

The Wales was one of the most useful of the 



76 

Alabama's captures. She yielded spars and rig- 
ging of the best quality. Her main yard proved 
to be of almost the exact length of the one which 
the cruiser had broken in the cyclone, and was 
taken aboard and afterward transferred to the 
place of the old one, which had been temporarily 
repaired. Eight able seamen were secured from 
her for the Alabama's crew, bringing the number 
up to no, within half a score of a full comple- 
ment. 

Semmes was on his good behavior, and evi- 
dently anxious to disprove the appellation of 
''pirate" which had been so constantly flung at 
him of late. Southern chivalry was at its best 
in the polite consideration with which he treated 
the ladies. Several of the officers were turned 
out of their staterooms to make room for them, 
a proceeding to which they submitted with ap- 
parent good grace. The Wales was burned. 

The Alabama now entered the calm belt about 
the tropic of Cancer, across which she proceeded 
by slow stages and dropped anchor in the har- 
bor of Fort de France, in the French island of 
Martinique, on November i8th, 1862. 



CHAPTER IX. 

DODGING THE SAN JACINTO. 

'^ I ^O his surprise Captain Semmes found the 
whole town expecting him, although this was 
the first port he had entered since leaving Ter- 
ceira two months previous. The Agrippina had 
been in this port a week, and her master, Captain 
McQueen, had not been able to resist the temp- 
tation to boast of his connection with the Ala- 
bama, and aver that his cargo of coal was in- 
tended for her bunkers. It had, moreover, been 
whispered about that the Agrippina had guns 
and ammunition under the coal, which were in- 
tended for the Confederate cruiser, and also that 
Captain McQueen had stated that he expected 
to receive some further instrAictions as to his 
movements from the British consul, Mr. Law- 
less. Diplomatic relations between Great Britain 
and the United States were very much strained 



yS DODGING THE 

at this time, and the consul was much incensed 
because his name had been connected with the 
Alabama in this public manner. When cross- 
questioned by the consul, McQueen became 
frightened and denied that his cargo was for 
the Alabama, but admitted that he had said that 
he took a cargo to Terceira for her, and also that 
he expected to receive a letter from the owners 
of the Agrippina in care of the consul. Mr. Law- 
less warned him against engaging in such illegal 
traffic under the British flag, and having satisfied 
himself that the Agrippina's cargo was really in- 
tended for the Confederate cruiser and that the 
Alabama might soon be expected in port, he laid 
the whole matter before the governor of the 
island. That official did not seem at all surprised, 
took the matter very coolly, and stated that if the 
Alabama came in she would receive the ordinary 
courtesies accorded to belligerent cruisers in 
French ports. 

When the Alabama did come in and Captain 
Semmes became acquainted with the real state 
of afifairs, Captain McQueen spent a bad quarter 
of an hour in his presence, and the same day the 



SAN JACINTO. 79 

Agrippina hastily got up her anchor and went 
to sea. Seven days was long enough for Mc- 
Queen's chatter to be wafted many a league even 
without the aid of the telegraph, and the United 
States consul, Mr. John Campbell, had not been 
idle. 

Captain Semmes applied to the governor for 
permission to land his prisoners, consisting of 
Captain Lincoln and family, of the T. B. Wales, 
ex-Consul Fairfield and family. Captain Mellen, 
of the Levi Starbuck, and forty-three seamen 
belonging to the two vessels. No objection be- 
ing offered, the prisoners went ashore and sought 
the friendly offices of the United States consul 
to assist them in reaching their own country. 

It was just a year since Captain Semmes, 
then in command of the Sumter, had been block- 
aded in this very port by the United States gun- 
boat Iroquois, and had adroitly given the latter 
the slip. Now, in a much better vessel than the 
Sumter, he felt able to defy foes like the Iroquois. 

But a surprise was brewing for him between 
decks. 

After dark Geors^e Forrest swam ashore and 



8o DODGING THE 

bribed a boatman to put him aboard his vessel 
again with five gallons of a vile brand of whisky. 
His fellow conspirators pulled him and his pur- 
chase in through a berth deck port, and the crew 
proceeded to hold high carnival. When the watch 
below was called the boatswain was knocked 
down with a belaying pin and an ofificer who 
tried to quell the disturbance was saluted with 
oaths and every kind of missile within reach. 

The captain was immediately notified, and 
ordered a beat to quarters. The officers appeared 
armed and charged forward, assisted by the 
sober portion of the crew, and after a sharp 
fight succeeded in securing the worst of the 
mutineers. Captain Senmies had the drunken 
sailors drenched with buckets of cold water until 
they begged for mercy. Forrest was identified 
by a guard from the shore as the man who 
bought the liquor, and he was placed in double 
irons and under guard. 

Captain Semmes had said to people on shore 
that the Alabama would go to sea during the 
night. But she did not go, and early the next 
morning the stars and stripes were floating out- 



SAN JACINTO. 8-1 

side the harbor at the masthead of the steam 
sloop San Jacmto, mounting fourteen guns. 

''We paid no sort of attention to the arrival 
of this old wagon of a ship," writes Semmes in 
his memoirs. Nevertheless, it must be recorded 
that he beat to quarters and kept the Alabama 
close under the guns of the French fort in the 
harbor.* He might be able to outsail the San 
Jacinto, but he knew very well that one or two 
of her broadsides would be very apt to send the 
Alabama to the bottom, in case Captain Ronck- 
endorff should take it into his head to violate 
the neutrality of a French port. Moreover, his 
crew were hardly in a condition either of mind 
or body to meet a determined enemy. 

The captain of the San Jacinto refused to re- 
ceive a pilot or come to an anchor, because his 
vessel would then come within the twenty-four 
hour rule, and the Alabama would be permitted 
that length of time to get out of reach when she 
chose to depart, before the San Jacinto, according 
to international law governing neutral ports, 
would be permitted to follow her. During the 



*Report of Consul Lawless to the British foreign office. 



82 DODGING THE 

day Governor Cande sent a letter to Captain 
Ronckendorff warning him that he must either 
come to anchor and submit to the twenty-four 
hour rule, or keep three miles outside the points 
which formed the entrance to the harbor. Being 
well aware that the governor had correctly stated 
the law governing the case, Captain Roncken- 
dorff readily promised acquiescence. 

Public sentiment in Martinique among the 
white population was almost unanimously favor- 
able to the South, and while the law was thus 
enforced to the letter as against the Federals, 
practically every white person in the port stood 
ready to give Captain Semmes any assistance 
which might enable him to escape from his pon- 
derous adversary. The crew of the Alabama 
spent the 19th of November in various stages of 
recovery from the debauch and fight of the pre- 
vious night, and repairing and painting occupied 
the time of some of them. In the afternoon a 
French naval officer went on board and furnished 
Captain Semmes with an accurate chart of the 
harbor. Towards night the captain of the Hamp- 
den, an American merchant ship lying in the 



SAN JACINTO. 83 

harbor near the Alabama, in company with Cap- 
tain Mellen, were rowed out to the San Jacinto, 
bearing a letter from the United States consul 
to Captain Ronckendorff, informing him in re- 
gard to the situation ashore. The news of their 
departure was not long in reaching the Alabama. 
Suspecting that some code of signals was being 
arranged, Captain Semmes determined to take 
time by the forelock. He asked for a govern- 
ment pilot, who was promptly furnished, and 
just at dusk the Alabam.a hoisted anchor and 
steamed toward the inner harbor. The evening 
was cloudy. Darkness came on early, and rain 
began to fall. All lights on board were extin- 
guished or covered, and having passed out of 
sight of the Hampden, the course was altered 
and the Alabama ran out through the most 
southerly channel. 

When the captain of the Hampden returned 
to his vessel a little after eight o'clock he im- 
mediately sent up three rockets in the direction 
in which the Alabama was supposed to have 
gone. The San Jacinto at once ran under a full 
head of steam to the south side of the harbor, 



84 

and searched up and down with her crew at 
quarters until after midnight. At daybreak two 
of her boats were taken on board, one of which 
had spent the night in the southern side of the 
harbor and the other in the northern side. No- 
body had seen anything of the Alabama. 

People on shore solemnly assured the San 
Jacinto's officers that the Alabama had not es- 
caped, but was hiding in some obscure part of 
the bay, to await the departure of her enemy. 
The whole harbor was therefore explored by 
the San Jacinto's boats, establishing the fact that 
beyond a doubt the Alabama was gone. 

In a postscript to his report to the navy de- 
partment Captain Ronckendorf says : ''I could 
find out nothing of the future movements of 
the Alabama." Nor could anybody else. That 
was a secret which was kept locked in the breast 
of her commander. It was very rarely that the 
lieutenants in her own ward room knew where 
the vessel would be twenty-four hours ahead. 



CHAPTER X. 

CAPTURE OF THE ARIEL. 

THE next afternoon the Alabama ran down 
to the solitary little island of Blan- 
quilla, near the coast of Venezuela, whither 
the Agrippina had preceded her. At the 
anchorage Captain Semmes was somewhat 
surprised to f^nd an American whaling schooner. 
Some boilers had been set up on the island, 
and her crew were busily engaged in try- 
ing out oil from the carcass of a whale 
which had recently been captured. As the 
Alabama floated the United States flag, the 
captain of the whaler rowed out to her and vol- 
unteered to pilot the new comer in, and ex- 
pressed much satisfaction that the United States 
navy department had shown such a commend- 
able determination to protect commerce in the 
Carribean Sea. After an inspection of the Al- 



86 CAPTURE OF 

abama's armament, he expressed the opinion that 
she was "just the ship to give the pirate Semmes 
fits." When he was finally informed into whose 
hands he had fallen, his consternation was really 
pitiable. Semmes, however, was not disposed 
to stir up a quarrel with even so weak a govern- 
ment as that of Venezuela, and magnanimously 
informed the young skipper that he should con- 
sider the island as a Venezuelan possession, not- 
withstanding the slight evidences of occupation, 
and that the marine league surrounding the 
island would be respected as Venezuelan waters. 
The Yankee master was detained on board the 
Alabama during her stay as a precautionary 
measure. Some of the junior officers took de- 
light in tantalizing the enforced guest in the 
interim. A midshipman asked him with great 
earnestness if "the old man" told him that he 
would not burn his ship. 

"Why to be sure he did," was the response. 

And then followed doleful waggings of the 
head and the comforting remark that it all looked 
very much like one of Semmes' grim jokes. 

In the end the whaler was released and her 



THE ARIEL. 87 

master warned to get into a Federal port at the 
earliest opportunity, and not permit himself to 
be caught on the high seas, as he might not 
fare so well a second time. 

The Alabama spent five days here coaling 
from the Agrippina. The crew were allowed 
shore liberty in quarter watches, but as there 
were no rum shops or dance houses on the island, 
the privilege was not greatly appreciated by a 
large part of the rough sailors. Several of the 
boats were rigged with sails and the officers went 
fishing. Gunning for pelicans, plovers, gulls 
and sand-snipes was also a favorite pastime. 
Flocks of flamingoes waded in the lagoons 
around the island in search of food, or stood in 
line like soldiers on the beach. 

A few settlers from the main land had taken 
up their residence on the island, and were cul- 
tivating bananas. The sailors helped themselves 
bountifully to this fruit, and complaint having 
been made to Captain vSemmes, he squared the 
account with ship's rations. 

A court martial was appointed to consider 
the case of the incorrigible George Forrest, and 



88 CAPTURE OP 

he was condemned to be put ashore and left on 
this island. 

November 26th the Alabama left her anchor- 
age at Blanquilla, and on the 29th was coasting 
along the shore of Porto Rico. It was the hope 
of Captain Semmes that he might capture a 
treasure steamer on her way north with gold 
from California. In the Mona passage a Span- 
ish schooner was boarded, which contained late 
Boston papers giving long accounts of the ex- 
tensive preparations which were being made for 
a campaign in Texas, the conduct of which was 
to be placed in the hands of General Banks. 
Captain Semmes had already heard of this pro- 
posed transfer of a northern army to the Texan 
coast, and had laid his plans to be in the Gulf 
of Mexico about the time it should arrive, which 
it was expected would be early in January. In 
the meantime he had something over a month 
to devote to other matters. The Spaniards were 
told that the Alabama was the United States 
steamer Iroquois. A few hours later another 
sail was sighted, and the Alabama having drawn 
nearer, it needed not the skill of Evans to pro- 



THE ARIEL. . 89 

nounce her "Yankee." The stamp of New En- 
gland was in her tapering royal and sky-sail 
masts and her snowy canvas. Newspapers were 
hastily put aside and attention concentrated on 
the chase. Almost within sight of her destin- 
ation the bark was overhauled and proved to 
be the Parker Cooke, of Boston, bound for San 
Domingo with provisions. Large quantities of 
butter, salt meats, crackers and dried fruits were 
transferred to the Alabama, and at dusk the 
torch was applied to the prize. 

That night the Alabama's officers had a bad 
scare, and the men were ordered to their guns. 
A large ship of war came suddenly upon them, 
and as the cruiser had her propeller up and no 
steam in her boilers, she would have been com- 
pletely at the mercy of so powerful an adver- 
sary. The stranger, however, was evidently not 
Federal, and passed quickly by without pav- 
ing the slightest attention to the Alabama, which 
was in plain view. Next day three vessels were 
boarded, but one showed Dutch papers and the 
others Spanish. 

December 2d the Alabama chased and over- 



90 Capture of 

hauled a French bark, and her master's ignor- 
ance of international law came near costing- him 
dearly. He paid no attention to a blank cart- 
ridge, and it was not until a solid shot was 
thrown between his masts and at no great dis- 
tance above his people's heads, that he consented 
to round to. When asked by the boarding 
officer why he had not stopped at the first sum- 
mons, he replied that he was a Frenchman, and 
that France was not at war with anybody ! 

On the 5th the Union, of Baltimore, was cap- 
tured, but she had a neutral cargo, and her cap- 
tain having given a ransom bond and consented 
to receive on board the prisoners from the Par- 
ker Cooke, she was suffered to proceed on her 
voyage. 

A sharp lookout was now^ kept for a steamer 
which it w^as expected would be on her way 
from the Isthmus of Panama to New York with 
a million dollars or upward of California gold. 
This money, if captured, would be lawful prize, 
and the portion of it which w^ould go to officers 
and crew would be a welcome addition to the pay 
received from the Confederate government. The 



THE ARIEL. 9I 

Alabama held her post in the passage between 
Cuba and San Domingo from December 3d to 
December 7th, but no steamer approached from 
the south. Many vessels were overhauled, but 
all were neutrals except the Union, which ran 
into the Alabama's arms without the necessity 
of a chase. The 7th was Sunday, and while the 
Captain was at breakfast and the crew prepar- 
ing for the usual Sunday muster, the lookout 
raised his shout of "Sail-ho!" 

"Where-away?" demanded the officer of the 
deck. 

''Broad on the port bow, sir!" was the reply. 
''What does she look like?" 
"She is a large steamer, brig-rigged, sir." 
Here was a steamer at last, but not in the 
expected quarter. This one was south bound, 
and visions of California gold vanished into air. 
Nevertheless, she might prove a good prize. 

"All hands work ship," called the boatswain, 
and Lieutenant Kell, seizing his trumpet, 
directed the furling of sails and the lowering of 
the propeller. The firemen worked like beavers, 
and in twenty minutes a sailing vessel had been 



92 CAPTURE OF 

transformed into a steamer. At a distance of 
three or four miles the United States flag was 
run up, and the stranger responded with the 
same ensign. The rapidity with which the latter 
approached showed that she was swift, but it 
was soon ascertained that she carried no guns. 
The Alabama ran down across her path as if 
to speak her, but the stranger kept away a little 
and swept by within a stone's throw. The great 
packet-steamer had all her awnings set, and 
under these was a crowd of passengers of both 
sexes. Groups of soldiers were also seen and 
several of^cers in- uniform. Many passengers 
with opera glasses could be seen curiously study- 
ing the construction and appointments of the 
false Union war ship. As the Alabama passed 
the wake of the packet, she wheeled in pursuit, 
ran up the Confederate flag, and fired a blank 
cartridge. Instantly the state of amused curi- 
osity on the stranger's deck gave way to panic. 
Ladies ran screaming below, and male passen- 
gers were by no means slow in keeping them 
company. Great clouds of black smoke poured 
from the smoke stacks of the fleeing monster, 



THE ARIEL. 93 

and her huge walking beam responded still more 
rapidly to the strain of her engines. A run of 
less than a mile convinced Captain Semmes that 
the stranger had the speed of him, and that if 
he wished to capture her he must resort to 
heroic measures. The "Persuader," was cleared 
away. The Alabama was yawed a little to enable 
the gunner to take accurate aim, and a hundred- 
pound shell splintered the foremast of the fugi- 
tive ten feet above the deck. Her master de- 
clined to expose his passengers to a second shot, 
and the stranger's engines were stopped, and she 
soon lay motionless awaiting the approach of 
her captor. 

The prize proved to be the California mail- 
steamer Ariel, Captain Jones, bound to the 
Isthmus of Panama with five hundred and thirty- 
two passengers, mostly women and children, on 
board, a battallion of one hundred and forty-five 
United States marines, and a number of naval 
officers, including Commander Sartori, who was 
on his way to the Pacific to take command of 
the United States sailing sloop St. Marys. The 
boarding officer reported great consternation 



C)4 CAPTURE OF 

among the passengers. Many of them were 
hastily secreting articles of value, and the ladies 
were inclined to hysterics, not knowing to what 
indignities they might be subjected by the 
"pirates." At this juncture Lieutenant Arm- 
strong was ordered to take the captain's gig and 
a boat's crew rigged out in white duck, and pro- 
ceed on board arrayed in his best uniform and 
brightest smile, and endeavor to restore a feeling 
of security. The young lieutenant found the 
most serious obstacle to the success of his mis- 
sion in the person of the commander of the 
marines, who strenuously objected to having his 
men considered as prisoners of war and put on 
parole. But the lieutenant had a clinching argu- 
ment in the muzzles of the Alabama's guns, then 
distant but a few yards, and the m.arines finally 
stacked their arms and took the oath not to bear 
arms against the Confederacy until exchanged. 
$8,000 in United States treasury notes and $1,500 
in silver were found in the safe, which Captain 
Jones admitted to be the property of the vessel's 
owner, and this was turned over to Captain 
Semmes. The boats' crews behaved very well, 




Secojjd Lieutenant R. F. Armstrong 



g6 CAPTURE OF 

and none of the personal effects of the prisoners 
were seized. 

The captain and engineers of the Ariel were 
sent on board the Alabama, and a number of the 
Alabama's engineers took possession of the 
Ariel's engines. Lieutenant Armstrong and Mid- 
shipman Sinclair, who acted as his executive 
officer, were not long in ingratiating themselves 
with the ladies, and when .they finally left the 
prize two days later, nearly all the buttons on 
their coats had been given away as mementoes. 
They occupied respectively the head and foot of 
the long dining table. When champagne was 
brought in they proposed the health of Jeffer- 
son Davis, which they requested should be drunk 
standing. Their request was complied with 
amid considerable merriment, and then the Yan- 
kee girls retaliated by proposing the health of 
President Lincoln, which was drunk with a storm 
of hurrahs. 

The next day after the capture of the Ariel 
the prize crew was hastily withdrawn from her, 
bringing away certain small fixtures from 
the engines, which rendered them temporarily 



THE ARIEL. 97 

useless. The reason for this move was the ap- 
pearance of .another steamer on the horizon, 
which it was hoped would prove to be the treas- 
ure steamer for which the Alabama had been 
waiting for a week past. Captain Semmes was 
doomed to another disappointment, however, 
for she was neutral. About eight o'clock the 
next evening, while in chase of a brig, which was 
afterward found to be from one of the German 
states, a valve casting broke in one of the Ala- 
bama's engines, and the chief engineer reported 
that it would take at least twenty-four hours to 
repair the damage. Captain Semmes had been 
extremely loth to release the Ariel. To get her 
into a Confederate port was, of course, impos- 
sible, and the Alabama could not possibly ac- 
commodate such an immense number' of passen- 
gers, even for the short time necessary to run 
into the nearest neutral port. He was debating 
in his own mind whether it might not be pos- 
sible to get his prize into Kingston, Jamaica, 
long enough to get his prisoners ashore, when 
the accident happened to the engine, and a boat 
sent to board the German brig brought back the 



98 

information that there was yellow fever at Kings- 
ton. A bond for the value of the prize and her 
cargo was therefore exacted from Captain Jones, 
•and the Ariel was suffered to proceed on her 
voyage. 



CHAPTER XL 

RECREATION AT ARCAS KEYS. 

THE Alabama coasted along the secluded 
north shore of Jamaica for the next forty- 
eight hours, while the engine was undergoing re- 
pair. It was now the I2th day of December, and 
Captain Semmes proceeded to carry out his plan 
of getting into the Gulf of Mexico without being 
seen. On the 13th he writes in his journal : 

Weather fine. Passed the west end of Jamaica 
about noon. Ship-cleaning day. Nothing in sight 
and I desire to see nothing (unless it be a homeward 
bound California Steamer) at present, as it is impor- 
tant I should make the run I contemplate without being 
traced. I should like to touch at the Caymans for 
fruits and vegetables for the crew, but forbear on this 
account. 

And on the 15th he makes this entry: 

Fresh trade; ship running along under topsails 
This running down, down, before the ever constant 
trade wind, to run up against it by and by under s earn 
is not pleasant. Still. God willing, I hope to strike 
a blow of some importance and make my retreat satel> 
out of the gulf. 

Have a care. Captain Semmes ! Rear Admiral 



lOO 



RECREATION AT 




U. .S. vSTEAMSHIP WACHUSETT. 



Wilkes, with the Wachusett and the Sonoma, 

is hot on your 
trail, and his scent 
is improving. He 
is only three days 
behind the Ag- 
rippina at the 
Grand Cayman, 
where thrifty Cap- 
tain McQueen has touched to do a little trading 
on his own account. 

December 17th to 19th the Alabama strug- 
gled with a three days' gale about niidway 
between the westerly end of Cuba and the coast 
of Honduras. In this gale the Wachusett burst 
her boiler tubes and the Sonoma rolled away her 
smokestack, but this fortunately did not go over- 
board, and when the weather cleared it was put 
in place again. On the 20th the Alabama's look- 
out sighted the islands near the north-east point 
of Yucatan, and the same night Captain Semmes 
groped his way through the Yucatan Channel 
by means of the lead, finding himself next morn- 
ing in the Gulf of Mexico, without having seen 



ARC AS KEYS. lOI 

a human being by whom the whereabouts of his 
vessel could be reported. On the 23d the Ag- 
rippina was overhauled, and the two vessels ran 
together to the Areas Keys. 

These little islands are of coral formation, 
and are three in number, forming a triangle. 
The Alabama and her consort found very good 
anchorage inside the triangle, with no danger 
from gales unless they should blow from the 
southeast, which Captain Semmes decided would 
be unlikely at this time of the year. Here he 
made his preparations to pounce upon the Banks 
transport fleet. The remainder of the coal which 
had been left in the Agrippina's hold at Blan- 
quilla, was now transferred to the Alabama's 
bunkers, and Captain McQueen was directed to 
proceed to England for another supply. The 
next rendezvous was never reached by the Ag- 
rippina, however, and from this time forward 
Captain Semmes had to supply himself with coal 
as best he could. The Alabama was careened and 
her bottom scrubbed as well as possible under 
the circumstances, and various repairs were 
made to the sails and about decks. 



102 RECREATION AT 

The water was very transparent, and the 
anchor could 1)e plainly seen at seven fathoms 
depth. Fish and turtles were observed swim- 
ming about, and all the wonders of coral arch- 
itecture were visible below. There was no veg- 
etation on the islands except sea kale and a few 
stunted bushes and cactus. Birds were in abun- 
dance, and the whole surface of the island was 
covered with their nests, containing eggs and 
young birds in all stages of growtJi. The older 
birds were very tame and usually refused to 
leave the nests until pushed off. 

Two days after the arrival of the Alabama 

was Christmas day, and the crew were given 

shore liberty. Captain Semmes makes this entry ^ 

in his journal : 

Christmas day, the second Christmas since we left 
our homes in the Sumter. Last year we were buffet- 
ting the storms of the North Atlantic near the Azores. 
Now we are snugly anchored in the Areas; and how 
many eventful periods have passed in the interval. 
Our poor people have been terribly pressed in this 
wicked and ruthless war, and they have borne priva- 
tions and sufferings which nothing but an intense 
patriotism could have sustained. They will live in his- 
tory as a people worthy to be free, and future genera- 
tions will be astonished at the folly and fanaticism, 
want of principle and wickedness, developed by this 
war among the Puritan population of the North; and 
in this class nine-tenths of the native population of the 
northern states may be placed, to such an extent has 



ARC AS KEYS. 103 

the "Plymouth Rock" leaven ''leavened the whole loaf." 
A people so devoid of Christian charity, and wanting 
in so many of the essentials of honesty, cannot but 
be abandoned to their own folly by a just and benev- 
olent God. Our crew is keeping Christmas by a run 
on shore, which they all seem to enjoy exceedingly. 
It is indeed very grateful to the senses to ramble about 
over even so confined a space as the Areas, after toss- 
ing about at sea in a continual state of excitement for 
months. Yesterday was the first time I touched the 
shore since I left Liverpool on the 13th of August last, 
and I was only one week in Liverpool after a voyage 
of three weeks from the Bahamas, so that I have in 
fact been but one week on shore in five months. My 
thoughts naturally turn on this quiet Christmas day, 
in this lonely island, to my dear family. I can only 
hope, and trust them to the protection of a merciful 
Providence. The only sign of a holiday on board to- 
night is the usual "splicing of the main brace," anglice, 
giving Jack an extra allowance of grog. 

Meanwhile "Jack's" thoughts were taking 

quite a different turn, if reports are to be trusted. 

Shore leave with no opportunity for a drunken 

carousal, was to him like the play of Hamlet 

with the principal character altogether omitted. 

"Liberty on Christmas, the old pirate!" cried 
one of the crew, kicking up the carpet ctf sea 
kale. "Well, here goes for a quiet life. I can 
lick any man in the starboard watch." 

His challenge was immediately accepted, and 
the net result was a number of broken heads 
and several men nearly incapacitated for duty. 

The lars^est island contained a salt water lake, 



104 RECREATION AT 

which was connected by an outlet with the sea at 
high tide, and at other times had a depth of 
about two and one-half feet of water. This pond 
was alive with fish, and on one occasion a group 
of junior and petty officers were fishing here in 
one of the small boats, when a shark was discov- 
ered swimming leisurely along with a fin ex- 
posed and evidently gorged with fish. The chief 
engineer, Miles J. Freeman, was bathing, and 
had waded about a hundred yards from the shore, 
when his attention was called to the man eater 
by the party in the boat. The shark had no in- 
tention of attacking him, but the engineer did 
not stop to investigate the state of his shark- 
ship's appetite, and struck out lustily for the 
shore. Not feeling that he was making satisfac- 
tory progress, he got on his feet and tried to 
wade. The water was just at that depth where 
no method of locomotion seems best, and so he 
floundered along, sometimes swimming, some- 
times trying to run, until he finally reached the 
shore and threw himself on the sand utterly ex- 
hausted, while the party in the boat held their 
sides and screamed with laughter. 



ARCAS KEYS. 105 

An Irishman named Michael Mars pushed 
the boat toward the shark, and jumping into the 
water, plunged his sheath knife into the belly, 
of the big fish. The shark snapped his great 
jaws and slapped the water with his tail, but, dis- 
regarding all orders to get into the boat and let 
the shark alone, Mars kept up the fight until his 
enemy was vanqui: bed, and the body was towed 
ashore in triumph. 

After some days the sojourners discovered 
that by driving oi¥ the birds from a certain area 
and breaking all the stale eggs, the nests were 
soon supplied with fresh ones by these prolific 
layers, and a palatable addition to ship fare was 
the result. 

Meanwhile Admiral Wilkes was cruising of¥ 
the westerly end of Cuba, thinking the Alabama 
would probably be there, trying to intercept the 
homeward bound California steamer. Doubt- 
less she would have been there, had it not 
seemed to her commander that a more impor- 
tant duty called him to the gulf. Admiral Wilkes 
reasoned that the Agrippina could never have 
reached an easterly port against the heavy gale. 



io6 

and decided to look into tlie harbor of Mugeres 
Island in the narrowest part of Yucatan Channel,, 
in the hope of finding her. Here he discovered 
a vessel which was at first thought to be the Ala- 
bama, but which proved to be the Virginia, for- 
merly the Noe-Daquy, which was being fitted 
up to run the blockade. A Mexican ofihcer had 
seized her, on the ground that she was engaged 
in the slave trade, and was not disposed to per- 
mit her being sent before a prize court at Key 
West. The complications arising in the case of 
this vessel kept Admiral Wilkes at Mugeres 
Island until January i8th, except that he made 
one trip to Havana for coal. Two days' sail to 
the w^estward would have brought him to the 
Areas Keys, but he had no means of knowing 
that the Alabama had passed into the gulf. 



CHAPTER XII. 

FIGHT WITH THE HATTERAS. 

/^~\ N the 5th of January, 1863, the Alabama 
^-^^ left the Areas Keys for her cruise to the 
northward. Full descriptions of the Banks expe- 
dition and its destination had appeared in the 
northern newspapers, and Captain Semmes was 
well supplied with information as to the character 
of the transport fleet and the time when it might 
be expected to arrive of¥ Galveston. It was not 
likely that the transports would be accompanied 
by a great number of war vessels, as the Confed- 
eracy had no fleet in the gulf, and the northern 
papers had reported the Alabama as well on her 
way to the coast of Brazil. As there was only 
twelve feet of water on the bar, most of the trans- 
ports would be obliged to anchor outside. A 
night attack — a quick dash — firel^rands flung 
from deck to deck — and the fleet might be half 



I08 FIGHT WITH 

destroyed Ijefore the gunboats could get up 
steam to pursue. 

Semmes determined to run in by daylight 
far enough to get the bearings of the fleet, and 
then draw off and wait for darkness. He had 
permitted enough of his plan to leak through 
the ward room to the forecastle to put his people 
on their mettle, and the entire crew were eager 
for the fray. On January nth the man at the 
masthead was instructed to keep a lookout for 
a large fleet anchored near a lighthouse. His 
"sail ho! land ho!" came almost simultaneously, 
and the captain began to fee! certain of his game. 
But later questioning brought the answer that 
there was no fleet of transports — only five steam- 
ers, which looked like vessels of w^ar. Soon after 
a shell thrown by one of the steamers was dis- 
tinctly seen to burst over the city. It could not 
be that the Federals would be firing upon a city 
which was in their own possession, and Semmes 
immediately came to the' correct conclusion that 
Galveston had been recaptured by the Confed- 
erates. That the Banks expedition had been 
diverted to New Orleans, and would proceed 



THE HATTERAS. 



109 



toward Texas by way of the Red River he could 
not know^ but that it had not reached Galveston 
was sufficiently apparent. 

The Alabama's prow was turned off shore 
again, and presently the lookout called down that 
one of the steamers was in pursuit. Commodore 
Bell, of the Federal fieet had discovered the 
strange actions of the sail in the offing, and had 
suspected an intention of running the blockade. 
The gunboat Hatteras was therefore signalled to 
go in chase of the intruder. The Alabama flew 
away under sail, but not so fast as to discourage 
her pursuer. The propeller was finally let down, 
and about twenty miles out she turned to meet 
the Hatteras. The engines on both vessels 
stopped at a distance of about a hundred yards, 
and the Federal hailed. 

"What ship is that?" 

''This is Her Britannic Majesty's ship 
Petrel," shouted Lieutenant Kell. 

He then demanded the name of the pursuer. 
The first answer was not clearly heard. A second 
summons brought the reply : 

"This is the United States ship — " 



no FIGHT WITH 

Again those on the Alabama failed to catch 
the name, and the people on the Hatteras seemed 
to be in a like predicament, for her officer 
shouted : 

"I don't understand you." 

"I don't understand you," rejoined Kell. 

After a few moments' delay the Hatteras 
hailed again. 

"If you please, I will send a boat on board of 
you.'' 

''Certainly," was the reply, "we shall be 
happy to receive your boat." 

Word was passed to the gunners that the 
signal to fire would be the word "Alabama." The 
creaking of the tackle as the boat was lowered 
was distinctly heard. Meanwhile the Alabama's 
engines were started and she was deftly maneu- 
vered to get her into position for a raking fire. 
But Lieutenant Blake, of the Hatteras, was not to 
be caught napping, and as the boat cleared her 
side, the engines of the Hatteras were again 
started, giving her headway enough so that she 
could again present her port broadside. Seeing 
that further concealment was useless, Lieu ten- 



THE HATTEKAS. HI 

ant Kell, at a word from his captain, placed the 
trumpet to his lips and shouted with all his 
lungs : 

"This is the Confederate States steamer Ala- 
bama !" 

Almost at the same instant the whole star- 
board broadside was fired. At fifty yards there 
was little chance to miss, and the sharp clang of ~ 
shot and shell against the Hatteras' iron plates 
added to the din. The fire was immediately 
returned by the Hatteras, and both vessels 
sprang forward at full speed, leaving Master L. 
H. Partridge and his boat's crew making vain 
endeavors to regain their own deck. 

Although the Hatteras was built of iron, she 
was not iron clad. Her plates had been made 
merely to resist the sea, not cannon shot, and 
the terrific pounding which the Alabama's guns 
gave her was effective from the first. 

Her walking beam was shot away, and great 
gaps appeared in her sides. Gunners on the 
Alabama revelled in the chance to revenge the 
long suffered newspaper abuse. 

"That's from 'the scum of England' !" "That 




'That's from the 'sccm of England' ! " 



THK HATTERAS. 113 

Stops your wind !" "That's a British pill for you 
to swallow!" were some of the expressions 
hurled at the Hatteras along with the shot and 
shell. 

Meanwhile the Alabama was not escaping 
punishment entirely, although none of her 
wounds were of a serious nature. One shot 
through the stern passed through the lamp room, 
smashing everything within it. A shell striking 
a few feet abaft the foremast, ripped up the deck 
and lodged in the port bulwarks without ex- 
ploding. A shot a few feet forward of the 
bridge tore up the deck. Two shells cut the main 
rigging and dropped mto the coal bunkers, and 
one of these in exploding made a hole through 
the side. A shot demolished one of the boats 
and went completely through the smoke stack, 
making the iron splinters fly like hail. Another 
shot struck the muzzle of a 32-pounder gun 
and caused the truck to run back over a man's 
foot. There was no damage below the water line. 

The Hatteras was on fire in two places, and 
a shell broke the cylinder of her engine, thus 
making it impossible either to handle the vessel 



114 FIGHT WITH 

or to put out the fire. Finding his craft a help- 
less wreck, Lieutenant Blake ordered the mag- 
azine flooded to prevent an explosion and fired 
a lee gun in token of surrender. 

To the inquiry from the Alabama whether he 
needed assistance Lieutenant Blake gave an 
affirmative reply, and the Alabama lowered her 
boats. But they were hastily hoisted again when 
it was reported that a steamer was coming from 
Galveston. In this emergency the commander 
of the Hatteras ordered her port battery thrown 
overboard, and this proceeding doubtless kept 
her afloat during the few minutes needed for the 
Alabama's boats to be again lowered and reach 
her side. Every man was taken off, and ten 
minutes later she went down bow foremost. The 
action lasted less than fifteen minutes. 

Partridge and his boat's crew drew near as 
the battle closed, but the officer having satisfied 
himself that the Hatteras had been defeated, 
ordered his men to pull for Galveston. He was 
without a compass, but the night was clear and 
starlit, and the tired crew succeeded in reaching 
a Federal vessel near the city at daybreak. 



THE HATTERAS. II5 

Meanwhile Commodore Bell had heard the 
noise of the conflict, and had started out with 
two of his remaining- ships to give assistance to 
the Hatteras. An all-night search revealed noth- 
ing, and returning next day, he discovered the 
tops of the masts of his unlucky consort pro- 
jecting a fiiw feet above the water. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ESCAPE FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO. 

np O get out of the gulf before the exits 
-^ could be guarded was now the all-im- 
portant thing for the Alabama. Had Captain 
Semmes known that the Sonoma was ofif 
the north shore of Yucatan, that the Wachusett 
was at Mugeres Island still keeping watch 
over the Virginia, and that the Santiago de 
Cuba, another steamer of Admiral Wilkes' 
fleet, was cruising of¥ the west end of 
Cuba, he might have had some hesitation in 
steering for the Yucatan Channel. But, luckily 
for the Alabama, Admiral Wilkes and his cap- 
tains were as ignorant of Captain Semmes' pres- 
ence in the gulf as he was of theirs in the chan- 
nel. For five days the Alabama battled with con- 
trary winds, overhauling the Agrippina, which 
had not yet succeeded in getting out of the gulf, 



Il8 ESCAPE FROM THE 

and on the i6th reached the Yucatan bank, along 
which she worked her way until 11:30 o'clock 
that night, when she slid off into the channel, 
and before daylight was beyond the reach of any 
hostile glass which might be leveled at her from 
the Yucatan coast or Mugeres Island. An 
observation on the 17th showed the Alabama's 
position in the middle of the channel, where she 
was slowly making her way southward against 
wind and current. Nothing was seen of the San- 
tiago de Cuba. The next day the R. R. Cuyler, 
of Admiral Farragut's squadron, arrived in the 
channel in hot pursuit of the Florida, which had 
just made her escape from Mobile Bay. The 
Cuyler and the Santiago de Cuba proceeded 
together across the Channel to Mugeres Island 
in a vain search for the Florida, but by this time 
the Alabama was out of the channel and well 
on her way to Jamaica. The Florida had run 
into Havana. 

On the afternoon of January 21st, 1863, the 
Alabama was off Port Royal, Jamaica, and 
anchored in the harbor as it grew dark. If Cap- 
tain Semmes had any misgivings as to the recep- 



GULF OF MEXICO. HQ 

tion which would be accorded him in an EngHsh 

port, his fears were soon set at rest. He writes : 

We were boarded by a lieutenant f™-" *<=,j,^"8^'f3 

fS%t<loT:ticr'^.rbafsunu7n%^:t^^e,^o 

was a ship of war-130 of the officers l^\^l^^^^^^^_ 

were promptly granted. 

With three British men-of-war in the harbor, 

the Alabama was safe from any hostile move- 
ment even by the most reckless of Federal com- 
manders, and Captain Semmes accepted the 
invitation of an English gentleman to visit his 
country home, where he took a much needed 
rest. His officers had their hands full in his 
absence. The ship's bunkers were refilled with 
coal, a proceeding which barred the Alabama 
from again receiving the same courtesy in any 
British port for three months. Crowds of curi- 



I20 ESCAPE FROM THE 

Oils visitors had to be entertained, and a constant 
watch must be kept to prevent liquor from being 
smuggled to the men, at least until the arduous 
labor of coaling ship was over. When shore 
leave was finally granted, the majority of the 
crew celebrated the occasion as usual by getting 
uproarously drunk, and many of them might 
be seen assisting their late adversaries of the 
Hatteras to get into a like condition. 

The Alabama's paymaster, Clarence R. 
Yonge, hitherto a trusted officer, was accused 
of drunkenness, and also with traitorous inter- 
course with the United States consul. Lieuten- 
ant Kell had him arrested, and when the captain 
returned he was dismissed from the Confederate 
service. 

Returning to Kingston from his tour of 
recreation on January 24th, Captain Semmes 
found himself the hero of the hour^ and felt 
obliged to comply with the general request for 
a speech to the people of the town. 

The task of getting the crew on board the 
Alabama proved to be a formidable one. Few 
could be Dersuaded to abandon their debauch 



GULF OF MEXICO. 121 

by any persuasion or threat of punishment. 
Most of them were arrested by tlie poHce and 
deHvered to the Alabama's ofiticers in all stages 
of intoxication. Two of them even attempted 
to escape after getting on board, by jumping 
into a shore boat. Captain Semmes gives the 
following account of this occurrence : 

A couple of them, not liking the appearance of 
things on board, jumped into a dug-out alongside, 
and seizing the paddles from the negroes, shoved off 
in great haste, and put out for the shore. It was night, 
and there was a bright moon lighting up the bay. A 
cutter w^as manned as speedily as possible, and sent 
in pursuit of the fugitives. Jack had grog and Moll 
ahead of him, and irons and a court-martial behind 
him, and he paddled like a good fellow. He had 
gotten a good start before the cutter was well under 
way, but still the cutter, with her long sweeping oars, 
was rather too much for the dug-out, especially as 
there were five oars to two paddles. She gained and 
gained, coming nearer and nearer, when presently the 
officer of the cutter heard one of the sailors in the 
dug-out say to the other: 

"I'll tell you what it is, Bill, there's too much 
cargo in this here d — d craft, and I'm going to lighten 
ship a little." 

And at the same instant he saw the two men lay in 
their paddles, seize one of the negroes, and pitch him 
head foremost overboard! They then seized their 
paddles again, and away darted the dug-out with 
renewed speed. 

Port Royal Bay is a large sheet of water, and is, 
besides, as every reader of Marryatt's incomparable 
tales knows, full of ravenous sharks. It would not do, 
of course, for the cutter to permit the negro either 
to drown or to be eaten by the sharks, and so, as she 
came up with him, sputtering and floundering for his 
life, she was obliged to "back of all" and take him in. 
The sailor who grabbed at him first missed him, and 
the boat shot ahead of him, which rendered it nec- 
essary for her to turn and pviU back a short distance 



1.22 ESCAPE FROM THE 

before she could rescue him. This done, he was flung 
into the bottom of the cutter, and the pursuit renewed. 
By this time the dug-out had gotten even a better 
start than she had had at first, and the two fugitive sail- 
ors, encouraged by the prospect of escape, were pad- 
dling more vigorously than ever. Fast flew the dugout, 
but faster flew the cutter. Both parties now had their 
blood up, and a more beautiful and exciting moonlight 
race has not often been seen. We had watched it from 
the Alabama, until in the gloaming of the night it had 
passed out of sight. We had seen the first manceuvre 
of the halting, and pulling back of the cutter, but did 
not know what to make of it. The cutter began now 
to come up again with the chase. She had no musket 
on board, or in imitation of the Alabama, she might 
have "hove the chase to" with a blank cartridge or a 
ball. When she had gotten within a few yards of her 
a second time, in went the paddles again, and over- 
board went the other negro! and away went the dug- 
out! A similar delay on the part of the cutter ensued 
as before, and a similar advantage was gained by the 
dug-out! But all things come to an end, and so did 
this race. The cutter finally captured the dug-out, 
and brought back Tom Bowse and Bill Bower to 
their admiring shipmates on board the Alabama. This 
was the only violation of neutrality I was guilty of in 
Port Royal — chasing and capturing a neutral craft in 
neutral waters. 

The recalcitrant sailors protested that they 

had no intention of deserting the ship or of 

drowning the negroes ; they only wanted to say 

goodby to their feminine acquaintances ashore — 

and so got of¥ with a reprimand and a night 

spent in irons. 



T 



CHAPTER XIV. 

IN AMBUSH ON THE HIGHWAY. 

HE next field of the Alabama's operations 



was to be the great highway of commerce 
off the coast of Brazil, and the mid-Atlantic to 
the northward. Hardly a day out from Port 
Royal she fell in with the Golden Rule, and 
made a bonfire of her. This vessel had on board 
an outfit of masts and rigging for a United 
States gun boat, which had been dismantled in a 
gale. The flames from the bark were distinctly 
visible on the islands of Jamaica and San 
Domingo. The next night the torch was applied 
to the Chastelaine near the Dominican coast. 
The prisoners from these two vessels were 
landed at San Domingo. 

February 2d there was an alarm of fire on 
board, caused by the carelessness of one of the 
petty officers, who had carried a lighted candle 
into the spirit room, producing an explosion. No 



124 ^^ AMBUSH 

great damage was done, however. The Ala- 
bama shaped her course northward from San 
Domingo and crossed the Tropic of Cancer with 
a good breeze, a rather unusual experience. 
Early on the morning of February 3d the 
Alabama gave chase to the schooner Palmetto, 
but the latter made good use of a favorable 
breeze, and was not overhauled until one 
o'clock in the afternoon. The cargo of the 
prize consisted largely of provisions, of which 
the Alabama appropriated a goodly supply, 
and then the torch was applied. 

The Alabama was now working her way 
eastward on the thirtieth parallel of latitude, and 
had got well into the middle of the Atlantic. 
The Azores, where she had begun her adven- 
turous career, were only a few degrees to the 
north and east. On February 21st a light breeze 
was blowing from the southeast when the look- 
out reported a sail in sight and then another and 
then a third and a fourth. The Alabama gave 
chase to the one first announced, but she ran 
away before the wind, and, fearing that the others 
would escape. Captain Scmmes gave his atten- 



ON THE HIGHWAY. 125 

tion to two which had every appearance of being 
Union, and which had been in close company. 
In order to distract the cruiser's attention, the 
two ships fled in opposite directions, but, the 
wind continuing light, the Alabama soon over- 
hauled the one which sailed eastward ; and, put- 
ting Master's Mate Fullam with a prize crew on 
board, with orders to follow, gave chase to the 
other, then some fifteen miles distant. The cruiser 
came up with the second ship about three o'clock 
p. m. She was the Olive Jane, of New York, 
homeward bound from Bordeaux with a cargo 
of French wines and brandies, sardines, olives 
and other delicacies. Her master was ordered 
on board the Alabama with his ship's papers, 
and soon stood in the presence of Captain 
Semmes. No certificates of foreign ownership 
were found, and the verbal assurance of the 
master that the French owner of certain casks 
of wine had pointed out his property before the 
ship sailed, counted for nothing. Fifth Lieu- 
tenant Sinclair was ordered with a boat's crew 
to proceed on board the prize and secure a quan- 
tity of the provisions, and then to set fire to her, 



126 IN AMBUSH 

but on no account to permit any intoxicants to 
be brought away. The young lieutenant assumed 
the task with many misgivings. To take such 
a susceptible boat's crew into a hold filled with 
wines and brandies and forbid them to touch a 
drop would be to invite a riot. Having reached 
the deck of the prize vSinclair took his coxswain 
aside and explained to him the nature of the 
cargo and the scheme whicii he had in mind. 
The boat's crew were invited to lunch at the 
cabin table on the viands prepared for New 
York's aristocracy, with sundry bottles of brandy, 
burgundy and claret added thereto, and then 
appealed to not to get their officer into trouble 
by becoming intoxicated. The sailors being 
thus put upon their honor, not a single cask of 
wine was broken open nor a bottle conveyed to 
the Alabama. As the work of securing the pro- 
visions proceeded, numerous temporary adjourn- 
ments to the cabin took place, but when the time- 
came for applying the torch, the crew returned 
to their ship, feeling a little gay perhaps, but 
amply able to clamber up the cruiser's side with- 
out assistance.' 



ON THE HIGHWAY. 



127 



The Olive Jane, having been seen to be well 
on fire, the Alabama made her way back to the 
first prize, which^ in charge of the prize crew, 
was doing her best to follow. This vessel was 
the Golden Eagle. She had sailed in ballast 
from San Francisco, had taken on a cargo 
of guano on a small island in the Pacific 
Ocean, rounded Cape Horn, crossed the equator 
and the calm belt^ and was just catching the 
breezes which were expected to waft her to her 
destination at Cork, Ireland, when she fell in 
with the merciless destroyer, and was condemned 
to be burned. 

The Alabama was now approaching a locality 

where active operation might be looked for. 

Says Captain Semmes : 

We were now in latitude 30° and longitude 40*^, 
^^^ * * * Qn the charmed "crossing," leading to 
the coast of Brazil. By "crossing" is meant the point 
at which the ship's course crosses a given parallel of 
latitude. We must not, for instance, cross the thirtieth 
parallel, going southward, until we have reached a 
certain meridian — say that of forty degrees west. If 
we do, the north-east trade wind will pinch us, and per- 
haps prevent us from weathering Cape St. Roque. And 
when we reach the equator there is another crossing 
recommended to the mariner, as being most appropri- 
ate to his purpose. Thus it is that the roads upon 
the sea have been blazed out, as it were — the blazes 
not being exactly cut upon the forest trees, but upon 
parallels and meridians. 



128 IN AMBUSH 

The Alabama was now kept exceedingly busy 
examining flags and papers of the passers by, 
to make sure that no Yankee should get past 
her unawares. February 27th the Washington 
fell into the Alabama's net, but she had a cargo 
of guano l^elonging to the Peruvian govern- 
ment ; and her master having given a ransom 
bond of $50,000 and taken the Alabama's pris- 
oners on board, was suffered to proceed on his 
voyage. March ist the Bethia Thayer, with 
more Peruvian guano, was also released on 
bond. The next victim was the John A. Parks, 
of Hallowell, Maine, with a cargo of lumber for 
ports in Argentine or Uruguay. The cargo was 
certified in proper form to be English property, 
but some tell-tale letters in the mail bag showed 
that these certificates had been obtained for the 
sole purpose of preventing confiscation in case 
of capture, and ship and cargo were consigned 
to the flames. 

The Alabama now ran southward to the 
equator. In the vicinity of the line she was sel- 
dom out of sight of vessels, and frequently there 
were a half dozen or more within sight at one 




Havoc in the South Atlantic. 



130 IN AMBUSH 

time. United States vessels were apt to avoid 
the "crossings/' however^ and had taken to the 
fields and back alleys, as it were. In some cases 
they sailed hundreds of miles out of their way 
in order to keep out of the ordinary track of 
commerce, where it was suspected that a Con- 
federate cruiser might be lying in wait. 

About midnight on March 15th the sky being 
cloudy, the lookout called, "Sail ho! close 
aboard," and a large ship passed by running on 
the opposite tack. The Alabama wheeled to 
follow, and succeeded in getting within range 
just before daybreak. A gunshot induced the 
chase to heave to. She proved to be the Pun- 
jaub, of Boston, on her way from Calcutta to 
London with a cargo of jute and linseed, which 
was properly certified as British property. She 
was released on a ransom bond, and took with 
her the last batch of prisoners, consisting of the 
crew of the John A. Parks. On the morning of 
March 23d the Morning Star was captured. She 
also was on her way from India to England with 
a neutral cargo, and not being able to find any 
flaw in her papers, Captain Semmes released her 



ON THE HIGHWAY. 13I 

on a ransom bond. On the afternoon of the 
same day the Kingfisher, a whaling schooner, 
of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was captured and 
burned. Two days later two large ships were 
seen approaching in close company. At the 
sight of the Alabama they separated and made 
more sail, but were both overhauled and proved 
to be American. The Charles Hill was bound 
from Liverpool to Argentine with salt. The 
Nora, also laden with salt, was bound from Liv- 
erpool to Calcutta. Probably both cargoes were 
actually owned by English citizens, but no 
proper proof of that fact being found among 
their papers, both vessels were condemned. The 
whole night and most of the following day were 
consumed in getting about forty tons of coal out 
of the prizes, after which they were burned. 
Nine men from these two ships enlisted on the 
Alabama. 

On April 4th the Alabama chased a fine large 
ship all day, and, the wind having failed, sent 
a boarding crew in a whale boat to her at five 
o'clock p. m., although she was still two miles 
<listant. Tust before dark the ship was seen to 



132 IN AMBUSH 

turn her head toward the Alabama, and in a 
few hours she was alongside. The prize w^as the 
Louisa Hatch, of Rockland, Maine, with a cargo 
of coal, and bound from Cardiff, Wales, to the 
island of Ceylon. There w'as a certificate of 
foreign ownership among her papers, but not 
being sworn to, it was treated as so much waste 
paper. Coal on the coast of Brazil was worth 
seventeen dollars per ton. The Alabama's sup- 
ply of that necessary article was running low, 
but the Agrippina w^as expected soon, and the 
appointed rendezvous was close at hand. The 
character of the Agrippina, however, as a supply 
ship to the Alabama was becoming pretty well 
known, and it was stated that at least one Union 
captain had threatened to treat her as a hostile 
craft, notwithstanding her English flag. It was 
therefore quite possible that she might not be 
able to reach the place designated by Captain 
Semmes for the transfer of her cargo. On the 
other hand. Captain Semmes knew from experi- 
ence that to transfer coal from the Louisa Hatch 
to the Alabama in the open sea would be a slow 
and difficult process in the best weather, and im- 
possible in even a moderate wind. 



UN thp: highway. 133 

Under the circumstances he determined to 
take the prize in tow and enter the port of Fer- 
nando de Noronha, an island belonging to Brazil; 
and used as a penal colony by that government, 
and run the risk of official interference. It was 
fortunate for the Alabama that the Louisa Hatch 
was not destroyed. The Agrippina was several 
weeks behind the appointed time in reaching the 
coast of Brazil. Besides her cargo of coal she 
had on board two more guns for the Alabama's 
armament. Those guns were never delivered, 
and the Alabama went into her final combat with 
her original eight guns only. 

Captain Semmes ran boldly into the harbor 

of Fernando de Noronha in the afternoon of 

April loth, 1863, followed by the Louisa Hatch, 

and after dark began taking coal from the prize. 

The next day he visited the governor of the 

island, and found that official disposed to be 

very friendly. He took the Confederate captain 

on a tour of inspection about the island, and 

invited him to dine with the aristocracy of the 

place, consisting chiefly of gentlemanly forgers 

and other polite convicts, together with a few 



134 IN AMBUSH 

army officers from the battalion under his com- 
mand. To the mind of the gentleman of South- 
ern breeding the climax of incongruity was 
reached when he was introduced to the gov- 
ernor's mulatto wife. The opinion of Captain 
Semmes in regard to the black and mixed inhab- 
itants of Brazil may be gathered from the follow- 
ing excerpt from his memoirs : 

The effete Portuguese race has been ingrafted upon 
a stupid, stolid Indian stock in that country. The 
freed negro is, besides, the equal of the white man, 
and as there seems to be no repugnance on the part of 
the white race — so called — to mix with the black race, 
and with the Indian, amalgamation will go on in that 
country, until a mongrel set of curs will cover the 
whole land. This might be a suitable field enough for 
the New England school-ma'am and carpet-bagger, 
but no Southern gentleman should think of mixing his 
blood or casting his lot with such a race of people. 

The fiery "Southern gentleman" was, how- 
ever, able for the time being to accommodate 
his feelings to the requirements of diplomacy, 
and his sentiments did not prevent him from 
making himself agreeable to the handsome 
mulatto lady and patting the kinky heads of her 
children. From this time forward the influence 
of the governor's wife was thrown on the side of 
an exceedingly liberal interpretation of the law 
of nations, wherever the Confederate captain was 



ON THE HIGHWAY. 1 35 

concerned, that lady little imagining the storm 
which was gathering about her husband's head, 
as a result of too much official complaisance. 

The Alabama remained at this island until 
April 22d. As the anchorage was nothing but 
an open roadstead, it was soon found that the 
sw^ll of the sea was too great to permit the two 
vessels to lie side by side without damage ; and 
resort was had to the tedious operation of trans- 
ferring the coal in boats, thus consuming five 
days. Meanwhile Captain Semmes was enjoying 
fat turkeys, fruit and bouquets sent him by the 
governor and his wife, or making agreeable visits 
to the government house and other places on the 
island. 

April 15th two vessels were discovered to the 
southward, and soon after two whale boats were 
seen approaching from that direction. Each was 
in charge of the captain of one of the vessels in 
the offing, and they seemed somewhat apprehen- 
sive as to the company into which they had 
fallen. One of them hailed the Louisa Hatch 
and inquired her name and the port she was 
from, to which questions correct answers were 



136 IN AMBUSH 

given by Master's Mate Fullam, the prize officer 
in charge. The other captain broke in by ask- 
ing if the steamer in the harbor was not the 
Alabama. 

"Certainly not," was the reply, "she is the 
United States steamer Iroquois." 

"Have you any news of the Alabama?" 

"Yes; we have heard of her being in the 
West Indies, at Jamaica and Costa Rica." 

The prize master then engaged them in con- 
versation, with the idea of detaining them until 
the Alabama could get up steam, which he felt 
sure would be done with all speed. Considerably 
reassured, the whaling captains accepted an 
invitation to go on board the prize, and had 
approached within a few yards when the officer 
in the forward boat uttered a cry of alarm. 

"Give way, men; give way for your lives," 
he shouted, and hastily turned the boat's head 
toward the shore. 

To the frantic appeals of the other captain 
to explain his conduct he would only point to 
the mizzen rigging of the ship and ejaculate: 

"There! there!" 



ON THE HIGHWAY. 1 37 

Closer inspection revealed a small Confed- 
erate flag which a puff of wind had just dis- 
played. The fears of the excited captain were 
soon realized. The Alabama steamed out of the 
anchorage and before dark had fired the bark 
Lafayette (the second vessel of this name 
destroyed) and returned with the Kate Cory in 
tow. Captain Semmes says that these two ships 
were captured outside the three-mile limit, but 
the crews of the captured vessels assert that they 
were clearly in Brazilian waters. The easy 
going governor contented himself with a written 
statement of Captain Semmes that the captures 
were made outside of the marine league. Ful- 
1am wrote in his diary : 

Whilst at Bahia I was shown a letter from the mas- 
ter of one of the whaling barks to an agent, in which 
he wrote that he would spare no money or time to 
follow to the uttermost ends of the earth, 'and bring 
to justice the man who had so cruelly deceived him. 
This sentence had reference to my denial of the Ala- 
bama and the substitution of the U. S. steamer 
Iroquois for that of C. S. steamer Alabama. The in- 
gratitude of some people! 

The prisoners were paroled and sent to Per- 

nambuco in a Brazilian schooner. Captain 

Semmes waited a week longer for the Agrippina, 

and then steamed out into the track of commerce 

once more. 



CHAPTER XV. 

ADMIRAL WILKES IS MISTAKEN. 

AS the Alabama left the anchorage of Fer- 
nando de Noronha four whale boats were 
successively cast adrift, and the islanders made 
a grand scramble for the possession of them. 
The successful ones became capitalists in the 
eyes of their fellows, as the boa'.s were better 
than any others about the place. The second 
night at sea, about two hours after midnight a 
whaling bark was sighted, and after an hour's 
chase succumbed to a blank cartridge. She was 
the Nye, of New Bedford, and had spent thirty- 
one months in the Pacific Ocean. She had sent 
home one or two cargoes of oil, and was now 
homeward bound with 425 barrels more. Every- 
thing about the ship was saturated with oil, and 
she made a magnificent bonfire. The sailors 
were chiefly interested in the store of Virginia 
tobacco which she brought them. 



140 ADMIRAL WILKES 

April 26th the Dorcas Prince, of New York, 
bound for Shanghai with a cargo of coal, was 
overhauled. The Alabama had her bunkers full 
of coal, and consequently this cargo was given 
to the flames along with the vessel. The master 
of the Dorcas Prince had his wife with him, and 
one of the Alabama's lieutenants was turned out ' 
of his stateroom to make room for the lady. 
The lookouts were kept busy reporting sails, 
but Evans gave little comfort as to nationality. 

"Think she's English, sir," was his frequent 
answer to queries ; or "Not Yankee, sir — think 
she's Austrian." 

Hardly a nation with any shipping at all that 
was not represented in this great ocean roadway. 
Hanoverian and Uruguayan vessels, both of 
which were overhauled, were not identified until 
they showed their flags. 

On Sunday, the third day of May, the Union 
Jack, of Boston, was chased and captured. The 
prize crew having gained her deck, away went 
the Alabama in chase of another ship, which was 
also overhauled in about an hour. She proved 
to be the Sea Lark, of New York. The Union 



IS MISTAKEN. 



141 



Jack was l^ound for the coast of China, and her 
master was taking his family out to make a tem- 
porary home for them somewhere in the far 
east so long as his business should require his 
presence in that part of the world. Rev. Frank- 
lin Wright, just appointed United States consul 
at Foo Chow, w^as also a passenger. Captain 
Semmes took possession of the new consul's 
official documents, intending thus to delay his 
entering upon his new duties. Before night both 
prizes were well on fire. 

■ May nth Captain Semmes ran into Bahia 
to land his prisoners. The news of the Ala- 
bama's exploits had preceded her. Acting under 
orders from Rio Janeiro, the president of the 
province of Pernambuco had recalled the gov- 
ernor of Fernando de Noronha and commenced 
legal proceedings against him. Three w^ar ves- 
sels had also been dispatched to the island to 
prevent further breaches of international law. 
While the case of the Alabama was undergoing 
investigation matters w^ere further complicated 
by the arrival of the Confederate steamer 
Georgia, wdiich had left British jurisdiction under 



J42 ADMIRAL WILKES 

the name of the Japan, and received her arma- 
ment off Ushant. News was also received that 
the Florida had arrived at Pernambuco, so that 
there was now^ quite a Confederate fleet in Bra- 
zilian ports. The final decision of the Brazilian 
government was to the effect that the Alabama 
had violated the neutrality of Brazilian waters, 
and henceforth should not be permitted to enter 
any of the ports of the empire. In the mean- 
time Captain Semmes had received all the sup- 
plies he needed. He put to sea May 2ist. Two 
weeks later the Agrippina arrived at Bahia, and 
was blockaded there together with another ship, 
the Castor, which had supplies for the Georgia, 
by the United States gunboat Onward. The 
Castor had succeeded in delivering some coal to 
the Georgia, but owing to the vigorous protest 
of the United States Consul, Thomas F. Wilson, 
who had received information leading him to 
believe that there was ammunition and also two 
large rifled cannon on board the Castor, the 
president of the province had forbidden the two 
vesels to lie alongside of each other, and the 
Georgia was obliged to take coal from lighters 
sent from the shore. 



IS MISTAKEN. 1 43 

The Georgia put to sea April 23d, but the 
next day the United States war steamer Mohican 
arrived, and kept the Castor in port until the 
arrival of the Onward. The Onward kept watch 
over the Castor and the Agrippina until their 
masters gave up the contest and sold and dis- 
charged their cargoes, after which they were 
released from espionage. 

In the latter part of January the Vanderbilt, a 
large and swift side-wheel steamer carrying 
fifteen guns, was ordered by Secretary Welles 
to go in search of the Alabama. The instructions 
to Lieutenant Baldwin, who was in command 
of her, were as follows : 

Navy Department, January 27, 1863. 

Sir: As soon as the U. S. S. Vanderbilt is ready you 
will proceed with her to sea and resume the search 
for the steamer Alabama, or 290. You will first visit 
Havana, where you may obtain information to govern 
your future movements. You can then visit any of the 
islands of the West Indies or any part of the Gulf at 
which you think you would be most likely to overtake 
the Alabama or procure information of her. 

When you are perfectly satisfied that the Alabama 
has left the Gulf or the West Indies and gone to some 
other locality, you will proceed along the coast of 



144 ADMIRAL WILKES 

Brazil to Fernando de Noronha and Rio de Janeiro, 
making enquiry at such places as you may think advis- 
able. From Rio continue your course to the Cape of 
Good Hope, thence back to St. Helena, Cape Verde, 
the Canaries, Madeira, Lisbon, Western Islands, and 
New York. 

If at any point word is obtained of the Alabama, or 
any other rebel craft, you will pursue her without 
regard to these instructions; and if the Alabama should 
be captured by any of our vessels, you will regard these 
instructions as void, and return at once to New York, 
unless you are in pursuit of some other rebel craft. 

The U. S. bark Ino is cruising in the vicinity of 
St. Helena, and the U. S. S. Mohican near the Cape 
Verde. Endeavor to obtain all the information pos- 
sible at points where the mail steamers touch, and 
communicate with the department as opportunity 
offers. 

I am respectfully, etc., 

GIDEON WELLES. 
Secretary of the Navy. 
Acting Lieutenant Chas. H. Baldwin, 

Commanding U. S. S. Vanderbilt, Hampton Roads. 

It will be noticed that the route thus mapped 
out for the Vanderbilt corresponded very closely 
to the one actually taken by the Alabama. The 
next day the secretary was informed of the Ala- 
bama's fight with the Hatteras, and the Florida's 
escape from Mobile, and telegraphed Lieutenant 
Baldwin as follows : 

* * * proceed with all possible dispatch to 
Havana, and there be governed by circumstances, but 
do not leave the West Indies as long as the Florida or 
Alabama are there. 

Actingr Rear Admiral Wilkes, commanding 




IS MISTAKEN. I45 

the West India squadron, had come very near 

phniging his conn- 
try into a foreign 
war in November, 
1 86 1. He then held 
the rank of Cap- 
tain, and was in 
command of the 

United states steamer Vanderbm.. San JacintO. Hc 

overhauled the British steamer Trent at sea and 
forcibly removed from her the Confederate 
commissioners Mason and Slidell. This act 
would have been perfectly justifiable if the 
Trent had been attempting to run the blockade, 
but as she was bound from the neutral port of 
Havana to an English port, there was no excuse 
for the seizure, and the act was disavowed and 
the prisoners released by order of President Lin- 
coln. Nevertheless, Captain Wilkes was ad- 
vanced to the rank of commodore, and in Sep- 
tember, 1862, made an acting rear admiral and 
assigned to the command of the West India 
fleet, consisting of the Wachusett, Dacotah, 
Cimarron, Sonoma, Tioga, Octorara and San- 
tiago de Cuba. Almost from the time of taking 



146 ADMIRAL WILKES 

command he had been sending frequent requests 
to Secretary Welles for more and better vessels. 
He felt sure that the Alabama might soon be 
captured if his requests were complied with. He 
complained bitterly because theDacotah had been 
sent on an independent cruise, and because the 
San Jacinto, although cruising in the West 
Indies, was not placed under his command. He 
was inclined to make use of any stragglers from 
other squadrons which came within his reach. 
The R. R. Cuyler and the Oneida, of Admiral 
Farragut's squadron, after chasing the Florida 
out of Mobile, got within the sphere of Admiral 
Wilkes' influence, and the former did not get 
back to her station for six weeks. The Oneida 
did not get back at all while Wilkes retained 
his command. When the Vandcrbilt reached 
the West Indies Wilkes took possession of her 
and retained her as his flag ship until the 13th 
of June. He persisted in the belief that the 
main object of the Alabama and the Florida 
would be the capture of the California treasure 
steamers, although those steamers had long since 
been furnished with an armed convoy. When 



IS MISTAKEN. 



147 



the news of the Alabama's depreciations on the 
coast of Brazil reached the United States and 
the shipping interests began to clamor for pro- 
tection in that quarter, Secretary Welles at first 
replied that the Vanderbilt had already gone 
thither. When later reports showed that she was 
still retained by Wilkes, the secretary's stock of 
patience was exhausted, and he relieved Wilkes 
of his command. 



CHAPTER XVL 

STREWING THE SEA WITH VALUABLES. 

THE Alabama had now made some fifty cap- 
tures, and American vessels were taking 
circuitous routes in order to avoid her. In some 
cases they had been sold to British owners, and 
doubtless there were many pretended sales for 
the purpose of obtaining the protection of the 
neutral flag. Several vessels were overhauled 
ofif the Brazilian coast by the Alabama, where a 
real or pretended transfer to neutral owners had 
been made. The papers being regular in each 
case, Captain Semmes had no alternative but to 
release them. But woe to any ship or cargo 
in whose papers any technical flaw could be 
made to justify him in vlisregarding them! 

In the afternoon of May 25th the Alabama's 
lookout reported a sail in sight and the cruiser 
had hardly made ready to pursue before another 



150 STREWING THE SEA 

sail was descried. On nearer approach both 
were pronounced Yankee, but the Alabama was 
not able to overhaul them until after sunset. The 
first ship boarded was the S. Gildersleeve, of 
New York, with a cargo of coal. The cargo was 
from London, and was probably owned there, 
but no proper certificate of that fact being found, 
ship and cargo were condemned to the flames. 
The other vessel was the bark Justina, of Balti- 
more, with a neutral cargo, properly certified. 
The Justina was released on ransom bond and 
the crew of the S. Gildersleeve transferred to 
her. The sea was very rough, and the transfer 
of the prisoners after dark was no easy task. 
The light having gone out on one of the boats,- 
it came very near being run down by the Alabama 
while changing position. At eleven o'clock that 
night the Gildersleeve was ready for the torch. 
The next night about 8 130 the Alabama 
began a chase by moonlight which lasted all 
night. With very careful handling t"he cruiser 
was able to gain slightly on the chase, which 
was also weir handled and carrying a press of 
sail. After daylight the next morning the chase 



WITH VALUABLES. I5I 

obeyed the signal of a blank cartridge and 
proved to be — a Dutch vessel! ' ; 

Forty-eight hours later another night chase 
yielded better results. The vessel overhauled 
this time was the Jabez Snow, of Rockport, 
Maine, with a cargo of coal, and bound from 
Cardiff, Wales, to Uruguay. A certificate of 
neutral ownership of the cargo was produced by 
the master, but not being sworn to, no attention 
was paid to it, and the ship was burned. 

June 2d at half past three o'clock in the 
morning the Alabama passed a large ship on 
the opposite tack. The cruiser made sail in pur- 
suit. At daylight the fugitive was still six or 
seven miles distant, and refused to obey the 
Alabama's gun. At 10:30 the cruiser had crept 
up within four miles, and a shot from the "Per- 
suader" brought the chase to a stop. This prize 
was the Amazonian, of Boston, also bound for 
the coast of Uruguay. The cargo v/as an assort- 
ed one, and there were two claims of neutral 
property; but Captain Semmes picked flaws in 
both of them, and the ship was condemned to 
be burned. In searching for some boxes of 



152 STREWING THE SEA 

soap and candles which were needed on the Ala- 
bama, the ocean was strewn with boxes and 
bales, many of them containing articles of high 
value. Pianos, cases of fine shoes, and the like, 
were dumped like so much rubbish until the cov- 
eted soap was brought to light. Having secured 
what was deemed necessary, the ship was set on 
fire. The next day an English brigantine was 
boarded, and by presenting her master with a 
chronometer, of which there were now a great 
number on the cruiser, taken from prizes, and a 
considerable quantity of provisions. Captain 
Semmes persuaded him to take the Alabamans 
prisoners, about forty in number, to Rio Jan- 
eiro. 

June 5th just before daylight the fine clipper 
ship Talisman ran within gunshot of the Ala- 
bama before discovering her presence. She was 
bound from New York to the coast of China, 
and had on board four brass twelve-pounder 
cannon and ammunition for them. Two of these 
cannon were transferred to the Alabama, with 
the ammunition and some provisions, and the 
vessel was then burned. 



WITH VALUABLES. I53 

During' the next two weeks no less than 
three ''Yankee" ships were fallen in with, which 
had been sold to British owners, and an Amer- 
ican cargo was found bound for New York in 
a Bremen ship. The Confederate commander 
was exultant over these multiplying proofs of 
the terror which his arms had inspired. 

The 20th of June brought a now departure 
in the Alabama's career. On that day the bark 
Conrad, of Philadelphia, homeward bound from 
Buenos Ayres with a cargo of .wool, was cap- 
tured. There were declarations of English own- 
ership, but Captain Semmes pronounced them 
fraudulent. Instead of burning this prize, how- 
ever, he determined to fit her out to assist in the 
work of destroying American commerce. A 
crew of fifteen men was sent on board under 
command of Lieutenant Low, with Midshipman 
William H. Sinclair as his first officer. The two 
twelve pounders taken from the Talisman were 
transferred to her, with a supply of rifles and 
revolvers, and the vessel was recliristened the 
Confederate States bark Tuscaloosa. 

The Alabama was now south of the tropic 



154 STREWING THE SEA 

of Capricorn and on her way to the Cape of 
Good Hope. Captain Semmes still hoped to find 
the Agrippina on the South African coast, but 
after spending some days on the voyage, the 
ship's bread was discovered to be nearly de- 
stroyed by weevil, and it became necessary to 
put back to Rio Janeiro for a fresh supply. On 
the first day of July the Alabama was again 
nearing the locality where she had parted from 
the Tuscaloosa. After overhauling no less than 
eleven neutral ships during the day. chase was 
given to the twelfth at eleven o'clock p. m. As 
the day broke the chase developed into a fine 
tall ship with tapering spars and white canvas. 
At the summons of a blank cartridge, she 
showed the United States flag, but her master 
refused to heave to, and was evidently deter- 
mined not to permit his ship to be captured until 
the last resource of seamanship had failed. It 
was not until the cruiser had crept near enough 
to throw a shell screaming across her bow, that 
she shortened sail. The prize proved to be the 
. Anna F. Schmidt, bound from Boston to San 
Francisco with a valuable assorted cargo. If 



WITH VALUABLES. 155 

she had been fitted out as a supply ship for the 
Alabama she could hardly have met the needs 
of the hour better. An abundance of bread put 
an end to the need of another visit to unfriendly 
Brazil. Trousers and shoes for the sailors, and 
plenty of warm underclothing, so much needed 
in the colder region which the cruiser was now 
approaching, were dug up out of the hold. The 
whole day was consumed in the looting. Great 
quantities of crockery and glassware, lamps, 
clocks, sewing machines, patent medicines and 
so on, were flung overboard in order that the 
needed articles might be found, and at night 
the match was applied to what remained. 

As the cruiser stood away from the blazing 
ship at 9 p. m. she fired a bow gun to bring to 
a large ship speeding northward. The stranger 
answered also with a gun. Aha ! a man-of-war. 
But why this haste? Why carry royals in such 
a gale, unless safety depends upon it. The stran- 
ger must be a *' Yankee" gun boat and one 
afraid to meet us, judging from the heels he 
shows. Or perhaps a valuable merchant ship 
playing man-of-war in order to deceive. So 



156 STREWING THE SEA 

reasoned Captain Semmes, and pressed on both 
steam and sail to overhaul the fleeing stranger. 
At midnight the Alabama was near enough to 
hail. 

''What ship is that?" shouted Lieutenant Kell 
through his trumpet. 

"This is her Brittanic Majesty's ship Dio- 
mede," was the reply. And so vanished alike 
the captain's hope of a rich prize and the sailors' 
thoughts of a battle. As ships of war are not 
expected to obey a summons to heave to and 
show papers, the Diomede flew away on her 
course, and the Alabama shortened sail and 
banked her fires. 

July 6th the Express, of Boston, bound for 
Antwerp, with a cargo of guano, said to be the 
property of the government of Peru, was cap- 
tured. Captain Semmes found flaws. in the cer- 
tificate of neutral ownership, and the vessel was 
burned. 

July 29th the Alabama reached the coast of 
South Africa and anchored at Saldanha Bay, an 
excellent but* secluded harbor about ninety miles 
north of Cape Town. Here the Alabama was 



WITH VALUABLES. 1 57 

repaired and painted and word sent to the gov- 
ernor of the colony that the neutrahty laws would 
be carefully respected. The first loss of life 
since the beginning of the cruise occurred 
August 3d, when one of the engineers accident- 
ally shot himself while returning from a hunt- 
ing expedition. Three days later, finding that 
there were no Union cruisers about the colony, 
and the Agrippina not having put in an appear- 
ance, the Alabama proceeded to Cape Town. 
On the way she spoke the Tuscaloosa, and Lieu- 
tenant Low reported that he had captured the 
Santee, which ship, having a neutral cargo, he 
had released on bond. 



CHAPTER XVIL 

HIDE AND SEEK WITH THE VANDERBILT. 

THE fame of the Alabama had preceded her, 
and her reception at the capital of the 
colony was an ovation. One of the Cape Town 
newspapers thus describes her arrival : 

On the 27th of July no little excitement was caused 
in Cape Town on the arrival of the coasting schooner 
Rover from Walwich Bay, with the news that the Con- 
federate steamer Alabama had actually made her 
appearance about twenty-five miles off Green Point. 
* * * Nothing further was heard, and it was 
thought by some that she had proceeded on to the 
eastward; but on the afternoon of August 4 public 
excitement was again aroused on the arrival of the 
schooner Atlas, Capt. Boyce, from Saldanha Bay, with 
the intelligence that the Alabama was lying snugly at 
anchor in that bay repairing. * * * Captain 
Boyce also informed us that he had boarded the 
steamer and was told by her commander that it was 
his intention to visit both Table Bay and Simons 
Bay, and that he would be up almost as soon as the 
Atlas. This bit of news put every one on the qui vive, 
and the eagerly looked for arrival was the sole subject 
of talk. Tuesday passed, but the Alabama had not 
made her appearance yet. 

About noon on the following day (Wednesday) an 
American bark was signalled as standing into Table 
Bay from the southwest. Almost immediately after a 
bark-rigged steamer was made down as standing in 
from the northeast. 

The stoop of the Exchange and the space around 



l60 HIDE AND SEEK 



the signalman's office behind the Custom House, and 
all other places from, which the signals could be made 
out, were soon crowded; and when the name of the 
steamer was made known, the excitement passed 
all bounds. The news spread through Cape Town like 
wild fire: 

"The Alabama is outside the bay, in chase of an 
American bark!" 

Trading was forgotten — the busiest rushed out of 
their offices and shops; every cab on the stand loaded 
regardless of municipal regulations, and vanished up 
the Kloof road or down Somerset road. Horsemen 
galloped about the street, and then spurred their steeds 
right up the Lion's rump. Men, women and children 
were seized as with frenzy, and rushed about here, 
there and everywhere, asking and telling the most 
contradictory and unheard of things. 

"They were firing at each other! — at close quarters! 
— the smoke and roar of the battle could be quite dis- 
tinctly heard from the breakwater!" 

And the shore from that point round to Camp's 
bay was, in an incredibly short space of time, lined 
with no inconsiderable portion of the madly excited 
citizens of Cape Town. * * The fine bark Sea 
Bride, having run the gauntlet of the Confederate fleet 
on the Atlantic, had deemed her voyage to be 
approaching a happy end, and, with full sail set, a 
favoring breeze and the star-spangled banner at her 
peak, she sped onward like a thing of life and beauty, 
in full view of the port to which she was bound. 
Dimly in the north she descried a steamer standing 
likewise for the bay, and congratulated herself on her 
good luck in arriving just in time to receive the latest 
American news of Vicksburg or the Rappahanock by 
the English mail. Fast as the bark went, the steamer 
sped faster still, and in a very unaccountable manner 
seemed to be bearing down upon the Yankee. In less 
than half an hour the suspicious craft had fairly over- 
hauled her, and, with the dreadful Confederate flag 
run up at the peak, left little doubt that the Sea Bride 
was to become the prey of the redoubtable cruiser, 
the Alabama. But still, as it appeared to us who wit- 
nessed the whole scene from Green Point shore, the 
Northerner determined to strain every nerve to escape 
his foe and reach the neutral waters within the charmed 
league from shore. 

The demand from the steamer to heave to was 



WITH THE VANDERBTLT. l6l 

answered by a defiant pressing on of every stitch of 
canvas, and a still more jaunty display of the stars and 
stripes at the mizzen. The chase was then continued 
for a few seconds longer; but at no time was the 
issue of it uncertain. The Alabama seemed to cut the 
waters with prodigious speed, and a blank charge from 
one of her big guns brought the Sea Bride to a full 
stop. The Confederate, pufifing off her steam in enor- 
mous volumes, moved gently round her fated victim, 
and seemed to gaze upon her with the complacent sat- 
isfaction a cat might show after the seizure of a tempt- 
ing mouse, or a hawk which in swift descent had 
pounced on its unsuspecting prey. A boat was sent 
to go on board the bark — a few minutes longer and it 
was impossible to judge what was happening; until at 
last the stars and stripes were struck, and the Northern 
bark Sea Bride was manifestly proclaimed a Confed- 
erate prize. 

When the Alabama anchored in the bay, she 
was surrounded by boats, the occupants all eager 
to view ship, officers and crew ; and the Confed- 
erates found themselves the heroes of the hour. 
The history of their captures and the battle with 
the Hatteras had to be related over and over 
again, with various grades of embellishment, 
according to the veracity or imagination of the 
narrator. The newspaper account continues : 

Next day the excitement in town was if possible still 
greater. The day was to all intents and purposes 
a general holiday. The weather was favorable, charm- 
ing; the bay was as smooth and sparkling as a sheet 
of glass, and every man, woman and child in Cape 
Town seemed to have made up their minds to get on 
board the Alabama in somq way or other. * * * 
The Alabama took in and discharged a living freight 
at the rate of about sixty in the minute from eight 
o'clock in the morning till four or five in the after- 
noon. * * * The boatmen quarreled, roared and 



l62 HIDE AND SEEK 

swore, as their eager living cargoes tumbled in and out 
of large boats into little ones, utterly reckless of their 
lives in their mad haste to get into the ship. The 
ladies' crinolines blocked the ladders and gangways. 
* * * The great center of attraction was Captain 
Semmes. "Where is he?" "Might we just have a 
look at him?" "Do let us down," "Do make a little 
room," begged and prayed ladies and gentlemen all 
day long at the head of the companion ladder leading 
down to the cabin. 

Captain Semmes seems to have borne his 
honors with a becoming grace, and to have made 
a good impression upon his army of visitors. 
Bartelli, the captain's steward, acted as master 
of ceremonies, and refused to adm.it any one 
until his or her card had first been sent in, and 
he had very diplomatic ways of getting rid of 
people who did not impress him as being of the 
proper social standing. Invitations to make 
visits on shore were showered upon the of^cers 
and some of them were accepted. Quires of 
paper were consumed in autographs, and the 
officers posed for their photographs on deck. 

The Alabama remained here and at Simons 
Bay until August 15th under various pretexts 
of needed repairs. The United States consul 
made the claim that the Sea Bride had been cap- 
tured within the marine league, and also that 
while in charge of the prize crew she had 



WITH THE VANDERBILT. 1 63 

approached within a mile and a hah' of the shore. 
On the 8th the Tuscaloosa came into Simons 
Bay, and the consul protested that her proper 
name was the Conrad, that she had never been 
condemned in an admiralty court, that her 
original cargo of wool was still on board, and 
that the mere fact that two brass guns and a 
dozen men had been transferred to her decks 
could not deprive her of the character of a prize, 
which it would be unlawful to bring into a 
British port. Governor Wodehcuse decided 
both of these cases in favor of the Confederates, 
but having reported the facts to the British gov- 
ernment, his action in the case of the Tuscaloosa 
was disapproved. Accordingly, when that vessel 
again appeared in port he caused her to be 
seized. This proceeding was also disapproved 
at London, on the ground that having once found 
an asylum in a British port, she had a right to 
expect similar treatment in the future. This 
diplomatic controversy was many months in 
progress, and before a final decision was arrived 
at there were no Confederate officers at the Cape 
to whom she could be delivered After the war 
she was transferred to her original owners. 



164 HIDE AND SEEK 

August 9th the Alabama steamed out from 
Cape Town, bound for Simons Bay. As she 
passed out of the harbor two American ships 
were sighted by the signalman on shore. But 
they were warned of their danger by some boats, 
and, the weather being foggy, they got inside the 
marine league without being seen by the Con- 
federates. The same day the Alabama captured 
the bark Martha Wenzel near the entrance to 
False Bay, but, having taken his bearings, Cap- 
tain Semmes decided that the capture had been 
made in Brititsh waters, and accordingly released 
her, much to the joy of her commander, who 
had expected to witness her destruction. 

August 28th the Alabama arrived at Angra 
Pequena Bay, on the west coast of Africa, more 
than a hundred miles north of the northern 
boundary of the Cape Colony, whither the Tus- 
caloosa and Sea Bride had preceded her. The 
harbor was good, but the country was a rainless, 
sandy, rock-bound desert, without so much as 
a shrub or a blade of grass; and no nation had 
as yet set up any claim to it. 



WITH THE VANDERBILT. 165 

At last Captain Semmes had found a port 
into which he could take a prize. The few naked 
and half starved Hottentots who appeared made 
no remonstrance against the violation of neu- 
trality. 

The Sea Bride and her cargo were sold to 
a Cape Town merchant for about one-third of 
their value, he to take the risk arising from the 
fact that she had never been condemned in a 
prize court, and the money was paid and pos- 
session given him at this secluded place. Here 
also was deposited the wool from the Tuscaloosa, 
to be picked up by another speculator, who was 
to ship it to Europe and credit the Confederate 
government with two-thirds of the proceeds. 
Two months later the Vanderbilt visited Angra 
Pequeha and captured there the British bark 
Saxon, having a large part of the wool on board, 
and sent her to a prize court in the United 
States. 

The United States consul at Cape Town, hav- 
ing heard of the Alabama's little mark down 
sales, protested against the vending of any of 
the goods within the colony by the purchasers. 



l66 HIDE AND SEEK 

After much delay and difficulty the cargo of the 
Sea Bride was peddled out in Madagascar and 
elsewhere, and the vessel herself turned adrift — 
for a consideration — with the understanding that 
certain persons should pick her up as a derelict. 
When the Alabama returned to Simons 
Town, she found the Vanderbilt had been there, 
and had, moreover, taken in all the coal which 
was to be had in the place. The Vanderbilt was 
an enormous consumer of coal, a fact which in- 
terfered considerably with her movements in a 
quarter of the world where coal wv.s so high in 
price and so uncertain in supply. Lieutenant 
Baldwin had fairly turned the tide of popular 
opinion in his favor by his magnanimous con- 
duct in the case of a Dutch bark, which the \^an- 
derbilt found in a disabled state a hundred miles 
from the shore, and which she towed safely into 
a harbor. Lieutenant Baldwin declined to accept 
any part of the salvage which he might have 
claimed, and although he was delayed some 
twenty-four hours in his chase of Confederate 
cruisers by the incident, the improved feeling 
toward the United States government in South 



WITH THE VANDERBILT. 167 

Africa was of much greater value. The three 
months rule was so far relaxed that the Van- 
derbilt coaled three times in British ports within 
three months, instead of only once, as the rule 
prescribed. Permission to coal a fourth time 
was, however, denied. 

Not being able to procure any coal at Simons 
Bay, Captain Semmes had a supply sent around 
from Cape Town in a merchant vessel. Mean- 
while the crew were permitted to have shore 
liberty, and nearly the entire number, including 
the petty officers, proceeded to get as drunk as 
possible. A week was spent in getting the 
unruly fellows on board and coaling ship. On 
September 24th, finding himself still fourteen 
hands short, Captain Semmes shipped eleven 
new ones at Simons Bay, although this was in 
direct violation of the British neutrality act. The 
Vanderbilt was reported not far outside the bay, 
but the Alabama succeeded in avoiding her, and 
steamed out to sea the same night in the teeth 
of a southeast gale. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



PALSIED COMMERCE IN THE FAR EAST. 

RUNNING southward to the fortieth par- 
allel, the Alabama availed herself of both 
a trade wind and a current setting eastward. The 
following month was spent in the eastward trip, 
which, aside from storms and bad weather, was 
uneventful. In the latter part of October she 
approached the East Indies. Passing vessels 
reported the United States war sloop Wyoming, 
a vessel of about the same grade as the x\labama, 

as guarding the 
Strait of Sunda. 
The Confederate 
cruiser hung round 
the entrance of the 
strait for two 
weeks, and then 
ran through with- 
out encountering 
the Wyoming, which had gone to Batavia 
for a fresh supply of coal. On November 




United States Steamer Wyoming. 



170 PALSIED COMMERCE 

6th, just before entering the strait, the Ala- 
bama gave chase to and captured the United 
States bark Amanda, laden with sugar and 
hemp. There was an attempt to cover the cargo 
with British consular certificates, but these not 
being sworn to, the vessel was burned. At the 
other end of the strait the fine clipper Winged 
Racer was encountered and met a like fate. Here 
the Alabama obtained a much needed supply of 
pigs, chickens and fresh vegetables from a fleet 
of Malay bum boats, and proceeded on her way. 
November nth the magnificent clipper Con- 
test led the Alabama a desperate chase in the 
Sea of Java, and although the latter was under 
both sail and steam, came very near escaping. 
Captain Semmes ordered some of the forward 
guns trundled aft and the crew assembled on 
the quarter deck, by which means the bow of the 
cruiser was lifted higher in the water; and, the 
wind dying down, the Alabama got near enough 
to reach the chase with her guns and compel her 
to heave to. Her master brought his papers on 
board the Alabama, which showed both ship and 
carsro to be Amcri'^an. The beautiful vessel. 



IN THE FAR EAST. 171 

Ihe pride of master and crew, was consigned to 
the flames. Her mate was placed in irons after 
he had knocked down an officer of the Alabama 
and offered to fight any "pirate'' on board. 

The American shipping trade in the East 
Indies was paralyzed. Few United States ves- 
sels ventured to put to sea, and fewer still could 
get profitable cargoes. At Manila, at Singapore, 
at Bangkok, and wherever a snug harbor was 
offered, American ships were lying idly at the 
docks. The Wyoming had no better success in 
pursuit of the Alabama than the V^anderbilt, and 
never once sighted the pestiferous Confederate. 

Nine days were spent by the Alabama at 
Pulo Condore, a small island in the China Sea, 
then recently seized by the French, making some 
needed repairs, and giving the men rest and 
shore liberty without the possibility of their get- 
ting drunk or running away. The officers were 
delighted with the novel opportunity of hunting 
among the strange animals of this region. One 
killed an immense vampire bat, and another 
brought back a lizard over five feet long. The 
pugilistic seamen had their propensities gratified, 



IN THE FAR EAST. 1 73 

it is said, by a fight with large baboons, in which 
the less human combatants put the invaders to 
flight. The baboons threw stones and clubs with 
great force, and some of the men were badly 
bitten. 

Captain Semmes put in practice a plan sim- 
ilar to that which he usually adopted in avoiding 
Federal cruisers. He computed the number of 
days which would be required for the last ship 
spoken to carry the news of his presence at Con- 
dore to Singapore, and the time the Wyoming 
would be likely to take in proceeding from Sing- 
apore to Condore. The day before the possible 
arrival of the Wyoming he sailed out of the 
harbor, and proceeded by a circuitous route — to 
Singapore ! 

December 24th a bark was overhauled in 
the Strait of Malacca, which had every appear- 
ance of being American built, but which flew 
the English flag and had an English register. 
The boarding officer, Master's Mate Fullam, 
reported that the name "Martaban" on the stern 
was freshly painted and the flag perfectly new. 
The speech of Captain Pike proclaimed him a 



174 PALSIED COMMERCE 

native of New England, but he claimed the pro- 
tection of the British flag and stoutly refused to 
go on board the Alabama to exhibit his papers 
to the Confederate commander. Under the cir- 
cumstances Captain Semmes determined to take 
upon himself for once the duties of boarding 
officer, and visited the merchant ship in person. 

The master of the bark was now subjected to 
a sharp cross-examination and his papers given a 
rigid reinspection, at the conclusion of which 
Captain Semmes announced that the vessel 
would be burned. Subsequent admissions of 
Captain Pike and his crew established the fact 
that the ship was the Texan Star, that the pre- 
tended sale to English parties was a sham to 
prevent her destruction, and that the name on 
the stern had been changed since the vessel left 
port. 

Two days later in the same strait the torch 
was applied to the Sonora and the Highlander, 
two large ships discovered at anchor near each 
other. 

The Alabama ran westward across the Bay 
of Bengal and rounded the Island of Ceylon 



IN THE FAR EAST. 1 75 

without sighting an American ship. An EngHsh 
vessel was spoken having on board a number of 
Mohammedan passengers. They had heard in 
Singapore that the Alabama had a number of 
black giants chained up in the hold, which were 
let loose upon the Yankees in time of battle. 
They did not doubt the truth of the story, but 
they desired to ask Mr. Fullam whether it was 
a fact that these giants were fed on Yankee 
sailors. Fullam assured them with the utmost 
gravity that this diet had been tried, but that 
the Yankees were so lean and tough that the 
giants refused to eat them. 

January 14th, 1864, the Emma Jane was cap- 
tured ofif the west coast of India, and committed 
to the flames. A British commercial agent sent 
this report of the afifair to his government : 

The ship sailed from Bombay on the 6th instant 
under English charter to proceed to Moulmein to 
load a cargo of teak for London, and on the 14th 
instant at 10 a. m., saw a sail ahead steering for them. 
At noon, light airs and calm, latitude 8° 6' north, 
longitude 'jd" 10' east, the stranger hoisted the United 
States flag, which flag was also run up to the mizzen 
peak by the Emma Jane; at i p. m. the bark fired a 
gun across the bows of the ship, when Captain Jordan 
hove his ship to with the main yard to the mast, 
believing the bark to be the Wyoming, U. S. N. Sent 
an armed boat's crew on board, and ordered the ship's 
papers to be produced. Asked where the ship was 




In the East Indies. 



IN THE FAR EAST. 1 77 

from and where bound for. On being furnished with 
these particulars, Captain Jordan was informed that 
his ship \vas a prize to the Alabama; they ordered the 
flag to be hauled down, which was also done on board 
the Alabama, she hoisting in its place the Confederate 
one. Captain Jordan was ordered on board the Ala- 
bama, and, on going on deck. Captain Semmes, after 
examining his papers, said that he must burn his ship; 
he questioned him closely as to his accounts, and the 
sums of money remitted to England, but there was 
no money on board. 

Captain Jordan was then ordered on board his own 
ship again, with an allowance of half an hour to put 
up some clothes, with the intimation that the conceal- 
ment of any valuables, money, watches, &c., by him- 
self, wife or crew, would be useless, as their effects 
and persons would be searched as soon as they came 
on board. Mrs. Jordan concealed her hiusband's and 
chief ofificer's watches in the bosom of her dress, with 
about thirty rupees in silver. 

The captain's chronometer, sextants, nautical in- 
struments and books were appropriated by Captain 
Semmes, and, after hoisting out the provisions and 
live stock, they broke up the cabin furniture and piled 
it in the cabin, making another pile down the fore 
hatchway smeared with tar; they then set fire to the 
ship, and left her with all her sails set to sky sails. At 
5:30 p. m. they arrived on board the Alabama, when the 
captain and crew were subjected to a personal search, 
Mrs. Jordan escaped this indignity, but her clothes, 
together with the others, were all turned out on deck 
and minutely scrutinized. At 6 p. m. the ship was 
enveloped in flame to the trucks fore and aft. 

From this time Captain Semmes and his officers 
behaved toward the captives with civility, and on 
Sunday, the 17th, ran under the land at Anjengo and 
landed them there, with a cask of pork and bag of 
bread to carry them to Cochin, Captain Semmes pre- 
senting Mrs. Jordan with a little canister of what was 
shortly before her own biscuits. 

The Alabama stopped a week at the island of 
Johanna, of¥ the coast of Africa, near the north 
end of Madagascar. The population consisted 
of negroes, with an admixture of Hindoos and 



178 PALSIED COMMERCE 

Arabs. The sultan sent off his grand vizier to 
welcome the visitors, with an apology for not 
coming himself, being busily engaged in erect- 
ing a sugar mill — a refreshing instance of royal 
industry. Most of the inhabitants wore the scan- 
tiest clothing, and yet nearly all could read and 
write, and the Mohammedan religion seemed to 
be universally accepted. They had heard of the 
war in America, and debated upon its merits 
among themselves. A jet black negro asked 
Captain Semmes whether he was fighting for the 
North or the South. 

"For the South," was the answer. 

Quick as thought came the reply with a frown 
of disapproval : 

''Then you belong to the side which upholds 
slavery." 

Through the stormy region about the Cape 
of Good Hope the Alabama passed once more, 
and cruised there ten days without sighting a 
single American vessel. As she left the harbor 
of Cape Town March 25th, however, she met 
the United States steamer Quang Tung coming 
in. Fortunately for the latter, she was already 



IN THE FAR EAST. 179 

within the marine league; otherwise the experi- 
ence of the Sea Bride would have been repeated. 
April 22d, off the coast of Brazil the Rock- 
ingham was captured. This vessel was used as 
a target and then burned. April 27th the torch 
was applied for the last time to the Tycoon, of 
New York. Nineteen other vessels were over- 
hauled between the coast of Brazil and that of 
France, but none of them were American. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

A NEW AD VERS ART. 

JUNE nth, 1864, the Alabama entered the 
port of Cherbourg, France, and Captain 
Semmes made application for leave to place 
his vessel in a dock for the purpose of replacing 
the copper sheathing, which was working loose 
and retarding the speed of the vessel. The 
boilers also required to be replaced or repaired. 
But the only docks at Cherbourg were those 
belonging to the government, and as the port 
admiral felt some reluctance in regard to admit- 
ting a belligerant vessel to a government dock, 
the matter was referred to the emperor (N'apo- 
leon III). 

Sunday. J^^nie 12th, was a quiet day in the 
Netherlands. The shipping in the Scheldt was 
lying quietly at anchor, and Sabbath stillness 



ADVERSARY. 1 83 

had settled down upon the docks and the town. 
The idlers of Flushing, who were gazing with 
some curiosity at the United States screw sloop 
Kearsarge, suddenly became aware of some 
unusual stir upon her decks. Presently a signal 
flag appeared at the fore, and the boom of a gun 
waked the river echoes. This was notice to 
absent officers and seamen that work was at 
hand, and that there was to be no more loitering 
in Holland. 

The absentees hurried on board, and as soon 
as there was a sufficient head of steam the vessel 
turned her prow toward the North Sea. The 
crew were assembled, and Captain Winslow told 
them of a telegram from Mr. Dayton, the United 
States minister at Paris, containing the informa- 
tion that the Alabama had run into Cherbourg, 
and requesting him to run down to that place 
immediately. The announcement was received 
with cheers,, and every one was in high spirits 
at the prospect of a battle with the famous 
cruiser. 

Captain Semmes was warned of the approach 
of the Kearsarge in ample time to ( nable him to 



184 A NEW 

get away, but lie made no attempt to do so, 
and it soon became evident that iie intended to 
fight. Commodore Barron, of the Confederate 
navy, v;as in France at this time, impatiently 
awaiting the completion of the two iron clads 
then building at Bordeaux, of which he expected 
to have the command. Captain Semmes com- 
municated to him his desire to engage the Kear- 
sarge, and was advised that he might use his 
own judgment in the matter. 

European partisans of the South could paint 
the career of the Alabama in the most glow^ing 
colors. Captain Semmes w-as the "gallant," 
''noble," chivalrous," "heroic" commander, and 
officers and crew shared in the honors heaped 
upon him. But there were not wanting, either 
in Great Britain or in France, those who w-ere 
disposed to echo the cry of "pirate!" which went 
up from the press of New York and Boston. The 
claim was made that the Alabama waged warfare 
exclusively upon defenceless merchantmen, and 
therefore was not entitled to be considered as a 
vessel of war. Her defenders could only point 
to that solitary thirteen-minute fight with the 



ADVERSARY. 1 85 

Hatteras. A Scotch paper called attention to the 
fact that although Captain Semmes had "de- 
stroyed property to the value of between 
£3,000,000 and £4,000,000, he has never once 
attacked or come in the \Yay of a vessel of his 
own calibre, except under false colors, and with 
a lie in the mouth of his officials." 

There. is no doubt that the Confederate cap- 
tain chafed under criticisms of this character. 
On the other hand, American shipping had been 
all but driven from the ocean, and if the 
Alabama was to refrain from battles with armed 
vessels, her usefulness, except as a mere patrol, 
was at an end. And, again, if the Alabama 
waited to refit she might have to fight a whole 
fleet in order to get to sea. 

June 14th the Kearsarge steamed into Cher- 
bourg through the east entrance and sent a boat 
on shore, but kept on and went out at the west 
entrance without anchoring. This was construed 
by some as an act of defiance, but the real 
reason was to avoid coming within the provis- 
ions of the twenty-four hour rule. Captain 
Semmes changed his request for a dock permit 



1 86 A NEW 

to an order for coal, and sent the following note 

to Mr. Bonfils, the Confederate commercial 

agent at Cherbourg : 

C. S. S. Alabama, Cherbourg, June 14, 1864. 
To A. Bonfils, Esq., Cherbourg. 

Sir: I hear that you were informed by the U. S. 
consul that the Kearsarge was to come to this port 
solely for the prisoners landed by me, and that she was 
to depart in twenty-four hours. I desire you to say 
to the U. S. consul that my intention is to fight the 
Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary 
arrangements. I hope these will not detain me more 
than until tomorrow evening, or after the morrow 
morning at furthest. I beg she will not depart before 
I. am ready to go out. I have the honor to be very 
respectfully, your obedient servant, 

R. SEMMES, 
Captain. 

This is the ''challenge," in regard to which 
there was so much subsequent discussion. A 
copy thereof having been transmitted to Captain 
Winslow, he replied through the U. S. consul 
that he came to Cherbourg to fight, and had no 
intention of leaving. 

The Kearsarge was built in Maine in the 
early part of the war, and cost about $275,000. 
The two vessels were very evenly matched in 
size and armament. The following table shows 

the measurements : Kearsarge. Alabama. 

Length of keel 198^ 210 

Length over all 232 220 

Beam 33 32 

Depth 16^ 17 

Engines (two in each) horse power .... 400 300 

Tonnage 1031 1040 



ADVERSARY. ^^7 

The Alabama carried eight guns: the hun- 
dred-pounder rifled Blakely pivoted forward; the 
eight-inch gun pivoted abaft the mainmast, and 
six 32-pounders in broadside. The Kearsarge 
carried seven guns : two eleven-inch smooth bore 
pivoted guns; one 28-pounder rifle, and four 32- 
pounders. The officers and men on the Kear- 
sarge numbered one hundred and sixty-three; 
those on the Alabama about one hundred and 

fifty. 

On Monday the Kearsarge ran into Dover 
for dispatches, and on Tuesday appeared off 
Cherbourg. Permission was obtained for boats 
to visit the shore, but the ship did not anchor in 
the harbor. The officers of the Kearsarge were 
very skeptical as to the desire of Captain Semmes 
for a battle, and a strict watch was kept at both 
entrances of the harbor, lest he should give them 
the slip, as he had the San Jacinto. The pos- 
sibility of a night attack was also discussed, and 
preparations made for repelling it in case it 
should be suddenly thrust upon them. 

More than a year previous while at the 
Azores the spare chain cable had been hung up 



1 88 A NKW 

and down upon the sides of the vessel as an 
additional protection to the engines when the 
coal bunkers were not full, and the whole 
enclosed by a covering of inch deal boards. This 
was done upon the suggestion of the executive 
officer. James S. Thornton, wdio had seen this 
device used by Admiral Farragut v/hen running 
past the forts on the Mississippi to reach New 
Orleans. Captain Semmes says he knew noth- 
ing about this chain armor. If he did know 
about it, he evidently underrated its cfifectiveness. 
The ports of the Kearsarge were let down, 
guns pivoted to starboard, and the entire battery 
loaded and made ready for instant service. Thurs- 
day, Friday and Saturday passed, but the Ala- 
bama failed to show herself outside the break- 
water. Communication with the shore had been 
forbidden, and the only intelligence of events in 
the harbor other than wdiat could be made out 
with the glass, came through the French pilots, 
who reported that the Alabama was taking in a 
large supply of coal, sending chronometers, 
specie and other valuables on shore, and that 



ADVERSARY. 189 

swords, boarding pikes and cutlasses were being- 
sharpened. 

A message from Minister Dayton was brouglit 
off by his son, who with difficulty obtained per- 
mission from the French admiral of the district 
to visit the Kearsarge. He told Captain Win- 
slow that it was his opinion that Captain Semmes 
would not fight, but admitted that the general 
opinion in Cherbourg was contrary to his own. 
On returning to the shore, Mr. Dayton was 
informed by the admiral that Captain Semmes 
would go out to the attack the next morning, 
and he spent a considerable part of the night 
endeavoring to communicate this intelligence to 
Captain Winslow, but the vigilance of the Cher- 
bourg police prevented him from accomplishing 
his object. He stayed in Cherbourg the next 
day, witnessed the battle from a convenient 
height, and telegraphed the result to his father 
in Paris. 

Meanwhile the coaling of the Alabama was 
completed. Some of the officers were given a 
banquet by admiring friends in the town on Sat- 
urday night, and the party broke up with a 



190 A NEW 

promise to meet again in a similar way to cel- 
ebrate the victory which none seemed to doubt 
would soon be theirs. 

Sunday morning came. The weather was 
fine, the air slightly hazy and a light westerly 
breeze rippled the harbor. Sunday was esteemed 
the Alabama's lucky day. On Sunday Captain 
Semmes had assumed the command of her and 
the Confederate ensign first appeared at her 
mast head. On Sunday many of her most im- 
portant captures had been made. On Sunday 
she halted the mighty Ariel, and on Sunday she 
sunk the Hatteras. It was inevitable that there 
should grow up between decks a belief that any 
important enterprise begun on Sunday had the 
best chance of success. As a factor in the com- 
ing contest, a feeling in the minds of the men 
who were to do the fighting that a lucky day 
had been pitched upon for the battle, was not 
to be despised. And so on Sunday, June 19th, 
1864, the Alabama sallied forth to meet the 
Kearsarge. The French iron clad frigate 
Couronne accompanied her to the three-mile 
limit in order to make sure that no fighting 



ADVERSARY. 191 

should take place in French waters. A private 
English steam yacht, the Deerhound, followed 
in the wake of the Couronne and took a position 
affording a good view of the battle, and several 
French pilot boats did likewise. The taller build- 
ingSj the rigging of vessels, the fortifications, and 
the heights above the town, were lined with 
people, many of whom had come from the 
interior and even from Paris to view the extraor- 
dinary spectacle. It is said that more than 
fifteen thousand people had gathered for this 
purpose. The great majority sympathised with 
the Alabama, but there was quite a contingent of 
Union adherents, among whom were the captains 
of the Tycoon and the Rockingham, with their 
families and crews, eager that vengeance at last 
might fall upon the destroyer. 



CHAPTER XX. 

BATTLE WITH THE KEARSARGE. 

ON board the Kearsarge the long wait had 
bred doubts of the martial temper of Cap- 
tain Semmes, and aside from the preparations 
already made affairs had largely dropped back 
into the ordinary routine. Soon after ten o'clock 
the officer of the deck reported a steamer ap- 
proaching from the city, but this was a frequent 
occurrence, and no attention was paid to the 
announcement. 

The bell was tolling for religious services 
when loud shouts apprised the crew that the 
long-looked-for Alabama was in sight. Captain 
Winslow hastily laid aside his prayer book and 
seized his trumpet. The fires were piled high 
with coal and the prow was turned straight out 
to sea. The fight must be to the death, and the 
vanquished was not to be permitted to crawl 



194 BATTLE WITH 

within the protection of the marine league. More- 
over, the French government had expressed a 
desire that the battle should take place at least 
six or seven miles from the coast. Ten, fifteen, 
twenty, twenty-five minutes passed. The Ala- 
bama kept straight on, and the Kearsarge con- 
tinued her apparent flight. 

Finally, at 10:50, when six or seven miles 
from shore, the Kearsarge wheeled and bore 
down upon her adversary. At a distance of a 
little over a mile the Alabama began the fight 
with her Blakely rifle, and at 10 157 she opened 
fire with her entire starboard broadside, which 
cut some of the Kearsarge's rigging but did no 
material damage. The latter crowded on all 
steam to get within closer range, but in tw^o 
minutes a second broadside came hurtling about 
her. This was quickly followed by a third, and 
then, deeming the danger from a raking fire too 
great longer to allow the ship to present her bow 
to the enemy, Captain Winslow directed his ves- 
sel sheared, and fired his starboard battery. He 
then made an attempt to run under the Ala- 
bama's stern, which she frustrated by shearing. 



THE KEARSARGE. I95 

and thus the two ships were forced into a circu- 
lar track round a common center, and the battle 
went on for an hour, the distance between them 
varying from a half to a quarter of a mile. Dur- 
ing that time the vessels described seven com- 
plete circles. 

At 11:15 a sixty-eight pounder shell came 
through the bulwarks of the Kearsarge, explod- 
ing on the quarter deck and badly wounding 
three of the crew of the after pivot gun. Two 
shots entered the ports of the thirty-two pound- 
ers, but injured no one. A shell exploded in the 
hammock nettings and set fire to the ship, but 
those detailed for fire service extinguished it in 
a short time, and so thorough was the discipline 
that the cannonade was not even interrupted. 

A hundred-pounder shell from the Alabama's 
Blakely pivot gun entered near the stern and 
lodged in the stern-post. The vessel trembled 
from bowsprit to rudder at the shock. The shell 
failed to explode, however. Had it done so, the 
efifect must have been serious and might have 
changed the result of the battle. A thirty-two 
pounder shell entered forward and hedged under 



196 BATTLE WITH 

the forward pivot gun, tilting it out of range, 
but did not explode. A rifle shell struck the 
smoke stack, broke through, and exploded in- 
side, tearing a ragged hole three feet in diameter 
Only two of the boats escaped damage. 

As the battle progressed, it became evident 
that the terrible pounding of the two eleven- 
inch Dahlgrens was having a disastrous effect 
on the Alabama. The Kearsarge gunners had 
been instructed to aim the heavy guns somewhat 
below rather than above the w^ater line, and leave 
the deck fighting to the lighter weapons. As the 
awful missies opened great gaps in the enemy's 
side or bored her through and through, the deck 
of the Kearsarge rang with cheers. A seaman 
named William Gowin, with a badly shattered 
leg, dragged himself to the forward hatch, refus- 
ing to permit his comrades to leave their gun in 
order to assist him. Here he fainted, but reviv- 
ing after being lowered to the care of the sur- 
geon, waved his hand and joined feebly in the 
cheers which reached him from the deck. 

"It is all right," he told the surgeon; "I am 
satisfied, for we are whipping the Alabama." 



THE KEARSARGE. 107 

The situation on the Alabama was indeed 
getting serious. It is evident that Captain 
Semmes entered the fight expecting to win. On 
leaving the harbor the crew were called aft, and, 
mounting a gun carriage, he addressed them as 
follows : 

Officers and seamen of the Alabama: You have 
at length another opportunity of meeting the enemy — 
the first that has been presented to you since you 
sunk the Hatteras. In the meantime you have been 
all over the world, and it is not too much to say that 
you have destroyed and driven for protection under 
neutral flags one-half of the enemy's commerce, which, 
at the beginning of the war, covered every sea. This 
is an achievement of which you may well be proud; 
and a grateful country will not be unmindful of it. 
The name of your ship has become a household word 
wherever civilization extends. Shall that name be tar- 
nished by defeat? The thing is impossible! Remem- 
ber that you are in the English Channel, the theatre 
of so much of the naval glory of our race, and that 
the eyes of all Europe are at this moment upon you. 
The flag that floats over you is that of a young Repub- 
lic, who bids defiance to her enemies, whenever and 
wherever found. Show the world that you know how 
to uphold it. Go to your quarters. 

As before stated, the 'Tersuader" began 
to speak at long range — more than a mile. But 
it was no peaceful merchantman that she had 
now to accost ; no fleeing Ariel, vomiting black 
smoke in a vain efifort to get beyond her range — 
no white winged Starlight or Sea Bride, piling 
sail on sail to reach the shelter of a neutral har- 



198 BATTLE WITH 

bor. The Kearsarge only raced toward her with 
still greater speed. At the third summons the 
Kearsarge yawed gracefully to port, and out of 
those frowning Dahlgrens blazed her answer. 
The Alabama staggered at the blow, and her 
creaking yards shook like branches in a tornado. 
Glass in hand, Captain Semmes stood upon the 
horseblock abreast the mizzen mast. 

'Try solid shot," he shouted ; "our shell 
strike her side and fall into the water." 

A little later shells were tried again, and then 
shot and shell were alternated during the remain- 
der of the battle. But no plan seemed to check 
the awful regularity of the Kearsarge's after pivot 
gun. Captain Semmes offered a reward for the 
silencing of this gun, and at one time his entire 
battery was turned upon it, but although three 
of its men were wounded as stated^ its fire was 
not interrupted. 

"What is the matter with the Blakely gun?" 
was askVd ; "we don't seem to be doing her any 
harm." 

At one time the after pivot gun of the Ala- 
bama, commanded by Lieutenant Wilson, had 



200 BATTLE WITH 

been run out to be fired, when a shell came 
through the port, mowing down the men and 
piling up a gastly mass of human llesh. One of 
the thirty-two pounders had to be abandoned in 
order to fill up the crew of the gun. The deck 
was red with blood, and much effort was neces- 
sarily expended in getting the wounded below. 
Water rushed into the Alabama through 
gaping holes in her sides, and she was visibly 
low'er in the water. There was no concealing the 
fact that the vessel could not float any great 
length of time. Captain Semmes made one last 
attempt to reach the coast — or at least that 
saving rnarine league, whose shelter he had 
denied to so many of his victims. As the vessels 
were making their seventh circle the foretrysail 
and two jibs were ordered set. The seaman who 
executed the order was struck while on the jib 
boom by a shell or solid shot and disembowelled. 
Nevertheless, he succeeded in struggling to the 
spar deck, and ran shrieking to the port gang- 
way, where he fell dead. The guns were pivoted 
to port, and the battle recommenced, with the 
Alabama's head turned toward the shore. 



1 

1 




; 







" 








- 


,% 




^^^ ' '■' ^^ 


^ 

ti^ 







C^nr( o/ Bnitle off Cherbourg. 



202 BATTLE WITH 

The effort was a vain one. Again the shells 
plowed through the Alabama's hull, and the 
chief engineer came on deck to say that the 
water had put out his fires. Lieutenant Kell 
ran below and soon satisfied himself that the 
vessel could not float ten minutes. The flag was 
ordered hauled down and. a white flag displayed 
over the stern. But the gunners were unable to 
realize that they were whipped. Semmes and 
Kell were immediately surrounded by excited 
seamen protesting against surrender. Even a 
statement of the condition of things below decks 
failed to convince' all of them of the futility of 
further fighting. It is said that two of the junior 
officers, swearing that they would never surren- 
der, rushed to^the two port guns and reopened 
fire on the Kearsarge. At this point there is a 
flat contradiction in the statements of eye wit- 
nesses. Lieutenant Kell denies that there was 
any firing of the Alabama's guns after the colors 
had been hauled down, and that her discipline 
would not have permitted it. Semmes and Kell 
both aver that the Kearsarge fired five shots 
into tlicni after their fla*:- had been hauled down. 



THE KEARSARGE. 203 

When the firing had ceased Master's Mate 
Fnllam was sent to the Kearsarge Avith a boat's 
crew and a few of the wounded in the dingey 
(the only boat entirely unharmed) to say that 
the Alabama was sinking and to ask for assist- 
ance in transferring the w^ounded. He told Cap- 
tain Winslow that Captain Semmes had surren- 
dered. But during the interval the Alabama was 
rapidly filling, and the wounded and boys who 
could not swim were hastily placed in two of the 
quarter boats, which were only partially injured, 
and sent to the Kearsarge in command of F. L. 
Gait, surgeon of the Alabama, and at that time 
also acting as paymaster. 

The order was then given for every man to 
jump overboard with a spar and save himself as 
best he could. The sea was quite smooth, and 
the active young officers and men found no 
difficulty in keeping afloat. Captain Semmes 
had on a life preserver, and Lieutenant Kell sup- 
ported himself on a grating. Assistant Surgeon 
Llewelyn, an Englishman, had tied some empty 
shell boxes around his waist, and although these 
prevented his body from sinking, he was unable 



204 BATTLE WITH 

to keep Ins head above water, never having 
learned to swim. One of the men swam to him 
a little later and found him dead. 

The Alabama settled at the stern. The water 
entering the berth deck ports forced the air 
upward, and the huge hulk sighed like a living 
creature hunted to its death. The shattered 
mainmast broke and fell. The great guns and 
everything movable came thundering aft, increas- 
ing the weight at the stern, and, throwing her 
bow high in the air, she made her final plunge. 
The end of the jib boom was the last to disap- 
pear beneath the waters, and the career of the 
famous cruiser was ended forever. 

The Deerhound having approached at the 
close of the battle, Captain Winslow hailed her 
and requested her owner, Mr. John Lancaster, 
to run down and assist in saving the survivors, 
which he hastened to do. Steaming in among 
the men struggling in the water, the boats of the 
Deerhound were dispatched to their assistance, 
and ropes were also thrown to them from the 
decks. Master's Mate Fullam asked permission 
of Captain Winslow to take his boat and assist 



THE KEARSARGE. 2O5 

in the rescue, which was granted. Two French 
pilot boats also appeared on the scene and 
assisted in the work. One of these pilot boats 
took the men saved by it on board the Kear- 
sarge, but the other, having rescued Second 
Lientenant Armstrong and a number of seamen, 
went ashore. Those taken to the Kearsarge, 
including the wounded, numbered seventy, 
among whom were several subordinate officers 
and Third Lieutenant Joseph D. Wilson. Cap- 
tain vSemmes had been slightly wounded in the 
arm and was pulled into one of the Deerhound's 
boats in a thoroughly exhausted condition. 
Lieutenant Kell was rescued by the same boat. 
Fifth Lieutenant Sinclair and a sailor, having 
been picked up by one of the Kearsarge's boats, 
quietly dropped overboard and reached one of 
the Deerhound's boats in safety. The Deer- 
hound, having picked up about forty officers and 
men, steamed rapidly away and landed them on 
the coast of England at Southampton. 



CHAPTER XXL 

CONCLUSION. 

A LTHOUGH the deal covering of the chain 
armor on the Kearsarge was ripped off 
in many places and some of the links themselves 
broken, a close inspection showed that no shot 
which struck them would have been likely to 
reach a vital part, had they been absent. The 
only really dangerous shot which reached the 
Kearsarge was the shell in the stern-post. Cap- 
tain Semmes rails at his opponent for adopting 
unusual methods for the safety of his vessel. 
He says : 

Notwithstanding my enemy went out chivalrously 
armored to encounter a ship whose wooden sides were 
entirely without protection, I should have beaten him 
in the first thirty minutes of the engagement, but for 
the defect of my ammunition, which had been two 
years on board, and become much deteriorated by 
cruising in a variety of climates. I had directed my 
men to fire low, telling them that it was better to 
fire too low than too high, as the ricochet in the 
former case — the water being smooth — would remedy 



2o8 CONCLUSION 



the defect of their aim, whereas it was of no impor- 
tance to cripple the masts and spars of a steamer. By 
Captain Winslow's own account, the Kearsarge was 
struck twenty-eight tmes; but his ship being armored, 
of course my shot and shell, except in so far as frag- 
ments of the latter may have damaged his spars and 
rigging, fell harmless into the sea. The Alabama was 
not mortally wounded, as the reader has seen, until 
after the Kearsarge had been firing at her an hour 
and ten minutes. In the meantime, in spite of the 
armor of the Kearsarge, I had mortally wounded that 
ship in the first thirty minutes of the engagament. I 
say "mortally wounded her," because the wound would 
have proved mortal, but for the defect of my ammuni- 
tion above spoken of, I lodged a rifled percussion 
shell near her stern post — where there were no chains 
— which failed to explode because of the defect of the 
cap. If the cap had performed its duty, and exploded 
the shell, I should have been called upon to save 
Captain Winslow's crew from drowning, instead of his 
being called upon to save mine. On so slight an 
incident — the defect of a percussion cap — did the battle 
hinge. The enemy were very proud of this shell. It 
was the only trophy they ever got of the Alabama! 
We fought her until she would no longer swim, and 
then we gave her to the waves. This shell, thus 
imbedded in the hull of the ship, was carefully cut out 
along with some of the timber, and sent to the Navy 
Department in Washington, to be exhibited to admir- 
ing Yankees. It should call up the blush of shame to 
the cheek of every northern man who looks upon it. 
It should remind him of his ship going into action 
with concealed armor; it should remind him that his 
ship fired into a beaten antagonist five times, after her 
colors had been struck and when she was sinking; and 
it should remind him of the drowning of helpless men, 
struggling in the water for their lives! Perhaps this 
latter spectacle was something for a Yankee to gloat 
upon. The Alabama had been a scourge and a terror 
to them for two years. She had seized their property! 
Yankee property! Curse upon the "pirates," let them 
drown! 

There is scarcely a doubt that Captain 
Semmes owed his life to the forbearance of Cap- 



CONCLUSION. 20Q 

tain Winslow. Had he been captured during the 
heat of the war, a mihtary court would doubtless 
have ordered his execution. The commander 
of the Kearsarge was several times warned by 
his officers that Semmes and many of his people 
were on board the Deerhound and likely to 
escape, but he said the yacht was "simply com- 
ing round," and took no steps to prevent her 
departure.* 

At 3:10 p. m. the Kearsarge again dropped 
anchor in Cherbourg harbor. The wounded of 
both vessels were transferred to the French 
Marine hospital, where the brave seaman, Wil- 
liam Gowin, died. The prisoners, with the 
exception of four officers, were paroled and sent 
on shore before sunset, a proceeding which Sec- 
retary Welles promptly disavowed, as he was 
resolved to commit no act which could be con- 



*In reviewing an autobiography of Sir George F. Bowen, 
at one time governor of New Zealand, the London Spec- 
tator says (vol. 65, p. 20): "The visit of the United States 
ship Kearsarge at this time brought to light a bit of 
history which Sir George Bowen has done well to pre- 
serve. The Captain informed his host that after the 
Alabama was sunk, its commander, Semmes, was seen 
floating in the sea with the help of a life-belt. He could 
easily have been captured, but it was thought better to 
let him be saved by a passing British vessel, since, if 
taken to America, he would probably have been hanged, 
and the officers of the Kearsarge wished to save a gallant 
enemy from such a fate." 



210 CONCLUSION. 

strued into an acknowledgement that the Ala- 
bama was a regular vessel of war. Lieutenant 
Wilson was, however, released on parole a few 
weeks later. 

The news of the destruction of the Alabama 
was received with the greatest demonstrations 
of delight throughout the North and among her 
friends abroad. Captain Semnies was roundly 
denounced for making his escape after his vessel 
had been surrendered. Mr. John Lancaster was 
likewise assailed for his part in the affair, and 
stories told by the prisoners to the effect that 
the Deerhound had been acting as a sort of ten- 
der to the Alabama were readily believed in the 
United States. Other preposterous inventions, 
one of which assumes to describe a visit of Cap- 
tain Semmes to the Kearsarge in disguise before 
the battle, have not even yet ceased to circulate. 
The ready pen of Captain Semmes and those 
of his journalistic friends in England were busily 
impaling Captain Winslow for two offenses: 
First, he was guilty of armoring his ship and 
concealing the fact that he had done so; and. 



CONCLUSION. ' 211 

secondly, he had fired upon the Alabama after 
her colors had been struck. 

On the first point it may be said that the 
existence of the chain armor on the Kearsarge 
was pretty well known in ports where she had 
touched, and it would be strange indeed if Cap- 
tain Semmes should have allowed this fact to 
escape his notice. Moreover, we have the direct 
statement of Lieutenant Sinclair, of the Alabama, 
that Semmes knew all about the chain armor be- 
fore the battle.* 

As to the second point, it was stated by pris- 
oners from the Alabama that the unauthorized 
firing by junior officers of the Alabama after her 
flag had been hauled down had provoked the fire 
complained of. Lieutenant Sinclair admits the 
clamorous protests of the gunners against sur- 
render. Taken with the positive testimony of 
the officers of the Kearsarge that such firing 
actually took place, these statements would ap- 
pear to be tolerably conclusive. 

Notwithstanding the loss of his ship, Captain 
Semmes was treated as a hero. He was petted 

*Two years on the Alabama, p. 263. 



212 CONCLUSION. 

and feted l)y the London clubs, and the Junior 
United Service Ckib presented him with a mag- 
nificent sword, artistically engraved with naval 
and Confederate symbols, to take the place of 
the sword which he had cast into the sea. 
Reports Flew broadcast that he would very soon 
be in command of a larger and more powerful 
"Alabama." English youths and school boys 
wrote to him by the score, imploring permission 
to serve under him in his new ship. But the 
Confederate government took a different view 
of the matter. Moreover Captain Semmes' 
health had been impaired by his three years of 
arduous service. Although at this time the Con- 
federates had strong hopes of getting to sea one 
or more iron clads, Semmes was not named for 
the command, and received instructions to 
return to the southern states. 

Not caring to take the chances of running- 
thc blockade, which had by this time become 
w^ell nigh impenetrable, Captain Semmes took 
passag-e for Havana and thence to the mouth of 
the Rio (^irande, from which point he made his 
wav overland through Texas and Louisiana, and 



CONCLUSION. 213 

arrived in Richmond in January, 1865. Here, 
m consideration of his services to the Confed- 
erate cause, he was raised to the rank of rear 
admiral and ordered to take command of the 
James River fleet. When General Lee evac- 
uated Richmond Admiral vSemmes set lire to 
his fleet, seized a railroad train, and tran:f erred 
his command to Danville. His forces became 
a part of the army of General Joseph E. Johns- 
ton, and were paroled with the rest when that 
army surrendered to General Sherman. 

December 15th, 1865, Semmes was arrested 
at his home in Mobile, Alabama, and taken to 
Washington, where he was confined for several 
months, while the propriety of trying him by 
court martial was undergoing consideration. No 
name connected with the Rebellion was more 
thoroughly detested along the seaboard than 
that of Raphael Semmes. He was accused of 
cruelty to his prisoners, and many believed that 
he often sunk vessels with all on board. His 
conduct at Cherbourg was considered to be con- 
trary to the rules of war, first in the alleged 
firing after the vessel had been surrendered, and 



214 CONCLUSION. 

secondly in escaping and throwing* his sword 
into the sea. Mr. John A. Bolles, the solicitor 
general, made careful investigation of the 
charges on behalf of the United States govern- 
ment, and came to the conclusion that prosecu- 
tion would not be warranted in time of peace, 
especially considering the fact that greater 
offenders were escaping prosecution. Captain 
Semmes' cruelty to prisoners seems to have con- 
sisted chiefly of confining many of them in irons, 
an occasional display of his fiery temper, and 
certain outbursts of profanity. What the pris- 
oners complained of most was the burning of 
their ships. But all southern ports being closed 
by the blockade, this is manifestly the only dis- 
position he could make of them. Escaping after 
surrendering his ship was doubtless contrary to 
the usages of war, but considering the fact that 
he w-as likely to be treated as a pirate, rather than 
as a prisoner of war, he could hardly be expected 
to act differently. 

The question of the liability of the English 
government for the escape of 'the Alabama, the 
Florida, the Shenandoah, the Sallie, the Boston, 



CONCLUSION. 



215 



and six other vessels which were converted into 
Confederate war vessels, was referred to a Tri- 
bunal of Arbitration, which assembled at Gen- 
eva, Switzerland, December 15th, 1871. One 
member of the Tribunal was appointed by the 
president of the United States, one by the queen 
of England, and one each by the king of Italy, 
the president of Switzerland, and the emperor 
of Brazil. This court gave judgment against 
Great Britain for the value of all the ships and 
cargoes destroyed by the five vessels named, 
amounting in all with interest to $15,500,000. 
The losses inflicted by the Alabama, according 
to claims presented by the losers amounted to 
$6,547,609.86. 

The Kearsarge was repaired at Cherbourg, 
and continued in the United States service 
throughout the war. Long after other vessels 
would have been broken up as too old for 
service she continued to receive repairs, once 
amounting almost to rebuilding. January 30th, 
1894, she sailed from Port au Prince, Hayti, for 
Bluefields, Nicaragua. On the evening of Fri- 
day, February 2d, she struck on Roncador Reef 



2l6 CONCLUSION. 

in the Carribean Sea. The ship had to be Hght- 
ened, and accordingly the guns Vvcre thrown 
overboard. She held together during the night, 
however, and the crew remained on board. The 
next morning a line was run ashore, and all 
hands were safely landed on the island, from 
which place one of the boats was sent to Colon 
for assistance. A steamer was dispatched to 
take off the shipwrecked mariners. Every person 
having been rescued, ofiBcers and crew watched 
the wave-lashed hulk slowly disappear from view, 
and the wreck of the old Kearsarge was left to 
the mercy of the sea. 



H 185 80 



f 




'% 



•0 '•'^••. ° 






L-J^^ c 








■ t^ A* -'^K*- "V <,">* -'d 
















>Q< 













